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MEMOIR 



Rev. NATHANIEL COLVER, D.D, 



LECTURES, PLANS OF SERMONS, ETC, 



By Rev. J/A. Smith, D.D., 

Author of '• The Spirit in the Word," '* The Shetland Apostle," etc., etc. 



BOSTOK: A 

LEE AND SHEPAKD, PUBLISHERS. 

NETV YORK: 
LEE, SHEPARD, AND DILLINGHAM. 

1873. 



THE LIBRAHY 
OF CONGRESS 

WASHINGTON 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, 

By lee and SIIErAED, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



PREFACE. 



At the time of the great Chicago fire, this book was mainly 
written ; the manuscript, with the exception of a few of the chap- 
ters, was in the hands of the printer, and nearly one half of the 
whole volume had been stereotyped. All this, including the man- 
uscript, was of course destroyed ; of the printed portions not even 
the proofs having been preserved. Various causes have delayed 
the reproduction of what was lost. At length it is given to the 
public, though with a painful consciousness of many faults in the 
work, and with the single hope that in the attractions of the topic 
and the honest intention of the writer some compensation for these 
may be found. 

The names of those to whom I am indebted for material appear 
in the course of the narrative, and need not be repeated here. I 
beg them all to receive the assurance of my cordial appreciation 
of the excellent aid they have afforded me. The biography of an 
active public man, so active as to have kept little or no record of 
his own life, and so careless of all save the work he was doing as 
to have given almost no attention whatever to the preserving of 
such current chronicles as might aid one in adjusting the incidents 
of his career, with only scraps of correspondence, even, to be made 
available — is a difficult thing to write. Save with the help I have 
had, I do not see how it could, in this case, have been done at all ; 
and even with such help the difficulties have been manifold. I 



Tl PREFACE. 

can testify, however, that the interest of the subject has fully com- 
pensated me for all the perplexing toil thus made necessary. If I 
hare succeeded in preserving in some degree this interest so that 
it shall be to the reader what it was to the writer, it may profit the 
one as much as it certainly has the other. 

J. A. Smith. 

Chicago March I, 1 8 73, 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
Parentage — Birth — Early Life - - . - 9 

CHAPTER IT. 
Conversion — Call to the Ministry - - - 24 

CHAPTER in. 

Pastorate at Fort Covington — Missionary Work 

IN Northern New York . - ... 44 

CHAPTER IV. 
Antimasonry --------66 

CHAPTER V. 
New Fields and New Labors - ... - 83 

CHAPTER VL 
Widening Spheres - ...... 104 

CHAPTER VIL 
The Tremont Temple Pastorate - - - - 127 

CHAPTER VIIL 
Antislavery 154 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IX. 

Antislavery and Missions - - - - - i8o 

CHAPTER X. 
South Abington — Detroit ..... 203 

CHAPTER XI. 
Cincinnati • 222 

CHAPTER XII. 

Latest Pastorates — Theological Teaching - - 241 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Among the Freedmen ------ 260 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Beside the River ..----. 275 

CHAPTER XV. 
Personal Characteristics 302 

APPENDIX. 

Lectures on Romans - - - - - - 329 

Plans of Sermons - - - - - - - - 441 



NATHANIEL COLVER 



CHAPTER I. 

PA RENT A GE — BIR TH— EARL V LIFE. — 1 794-1 809. 

Biography like history repeats itself. Human 
character amidst all its rich variety retains resem- 
blances which tend continually to reappear, while 
so similar, in spite of all their differences, are the 
vicissitudes of man's lot in this world, that to 
some extent the story of one human life is the 
story of all. Few men have a right to suppose 
that the record of their career is one entitled to 
claim a permanent place, or that it is of import- 
ance beyond the more or less limited circle of 
their personal associations. 

What is true of men in general, in this regard, 
is especially true of ministers of the Gospel. 
Moving in a sphere of hfe which, with all its 
publicity, is seldom characterized by extraordi- 
nary incident ; with so much in the personal and 



10 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

spiritual history of eacli that is common to the 
whole class ; summoned to their self-sacrificing 
course by like convictions, tested by like ordeals, 
and working and achieving in the strength of the 
same commanding motive, it is not to be expected 
that so much sameness in the career should per- 
init great variety in the record. It is only when 
one in this sphere of life is made conspicuous by 
marked personal characteristics, by eminent ser- 
vice, or by his relation to some momentous epoch 
in human progress, that the story of his life may 
properly be presumed entitled to a place in cur- 
rent biography. It is in the conviction that all 
these things were true of Nathaniel Colver, that 
this attempt is made to sketch his life, his charac- 
ter, and his services to humanity and religion. 

There is lying before the writer of these pages, 
at the present moment, a collection of faded, yel- 
low manuscripts. They are diaries, letters, ab- 
stracts of sermons, outlines of essays, belonging 
originally to one of a class of men whose record, 
perhaps, is less distinct and familiar to us of the 
present generation than in justice it ought to be 
made; — one of those to whom the, cause of re- 
ligion and of Baptist truth in this country is more 
indebted than seems always to be appreciated. 



EAULY LIFE. 11 

Called to preach Christ in sparse settlements, 
rather than in crowded cities, to the poor on the 
frontier rather than the rich at the centers of pop^ 
ulation, these men, adopting the Apostle's view 
that it were better to labor, working with their 
own hands, than to become " chargeable " to 
those whose worldly wealth was as limited as 
their own, united often the care of the farm with 
that of the church, and providing in this way for 
those dependent on them, found means to keep 
alive many a feeble church which otherwise might 
have died for lack of nutriment, and to carry the 
Gospel to many a wilderness home where other- 
wise it might never have been known. 

The earliest of the diaries found amongst the 
manuscripts just mentioned, bears date March 7, 
1793. Upon that day the writer with his family 
arrived in Orwell, Vermont, then but a small set- 
tlement, now a prosperous New England town. 
Two days are spent in adjusting home affairs. 
Upon the Sabbath he preaches from Rev. iii, 6, 
" He that hath an ear, let him hear what the 
Spirit saith unto the churches." A day or two 
after he is "at Mr. Babcock's, to get an axe 
laid." The day following, " studied in the fore- 
noon, in the afternoon tapped sap-trees." Next 



12 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

day, "gathered sap in the forenoon, afternoon 
studied." Sunday coming again, he preaches 
from Rom. xii, 13, and Deut. xxvi, 5. Tlie next 
day, " stormy, did chores and read Allein." A 
few days later we find him attending the sick, 
soon after that attending a council. On two suc- 
cessive Sabbaths, he preaches from Solomon's 
Song : upon the first from v. 16, " His mouth is 
most sweet ; yea, he is altogether lovely. This is 
my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters 
of Jerusalem ; " on the second, from iii, 11, " Go 
forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold King 
Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother 
crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in 
the day of the gladness of his heart." Here is 
the skeleton of a sermon preached at another 
time from the words, " Let your speech be always 
with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know 
how ye ought to answer every man," Col. iv, 6 : 

1. The Grace of Sobriety. 

2. The Grace of Consideration. 

3. The Grace of Modesty. 

4. The Grace of Truth. 

5. The Grace of Meekness. 

6. The Grace of Expedience. 

7. The Grace of Religion. 

Thus observing, your answers to every man will be as they ought. 

A glimpse of the controversies then current 



EARLY LIFE. 13 

one finds, also, in the following title to what 
seems to have been published as a pamphlet : 

An Address to the Churches of the Presbyterian and Congre- 
tional Orders on Abraham's Covenant, showing what it Jis, and 
what it is not. 

The scriptural mottoes selected for the title- 
page, were evidently meant, especially the second 
one, to be suggestive. 

What is truth ? John xviii, 38. 

It is a snare to a man to devour that which is holy, and after 
voweth to make inquiry. Prov. xx, 25. 

In the " Preface to the Reader," we find this : 

If I am a scribe instructed unto the Kingdom of God, I shall 
bring forth things new and old out of Scripture treasure, and you 
will need to read or hear attentively, and search the Scripture 
store, and see if my scrip is supplied from thence. 

We may venture to copy the following speci- 
men of the doctrinal teaching of the essay: 

I now conclude I have fully proved that the covenant made 
with Abraham was not the Covenant of Grace, and that every 
person who attends carefully to the matter will see that God's 
promise to multiply Abraham's natural offspring to a great nation, 
sufficient to people the land of Canaan, and his promise to multi- 
ply Christ as the stars of heaven or dust of the earth (Gen. xxii.iy) 
are promises of a distinct nature, and the one a type of the other ; 
that Abraham himself was one of the production of Christ multi- 
plied ; and that all the production of Christ are related to God in 
a different Covenant from what they are when the Apostle calls 
them the offspring of God (Acts xvii.) saying " For we are all the off- 
spring of God," that is, the product of His creating power. This 
all Calvinists ought to own, and that the new birth only brings 
persons out of one relation into the other. 

We may finish these quotations with the quaint 
lines with which the essay concludes : 



14 KATHANIEL COLVER. 

The worth, of truth no tongue can tell : 
'T will do to buy, but not to sell. 
Happy portion he has got, 
Who buys the truth and sells it not. 

Wft have, in these notices and extracts, intro- 
duced to the reader Elder Nathaniel Colver, the 
father of the subject of this biography ; a labor- 
ious, self-sacrificing minister of the gospel, for 
much of his life in the frontier settlements of 
Vermont and Northern New York. Among some 
notes furnished us for use in these pages by Hon. 
E. D. Culver, of New York, we find the follow- 
ing particulars, which will be of interest in this 
connection : 

" Nathaniel Colver was one of eleven children, 
whose father was Nathaniel Colver Sr., and his 
mother Esther Dean. The father was a minister 
of the Baptist denomination, as was Ms father of 
the same name. His mother was descended from 
the Dean family. The name of her father is not 
remembered, but connected with her family as 
brothers or uncles of hers were James Dean, John 
Dean, and Erastus Dean. The first of these. 
Judge James Dean, late of Utica or Westmore- 
land, N. Y., is remembered for his eminence as a 
judge and as a friend of the Indian tribes. He 
negotiated some important treaties with the 



EAELY LIFE. 15 

Indians, and was held in high repute among 
them for his integrity. The Dean family was 
long noted for the natural eloquence of its mem- 
bers ; and it was long since said that the subject 
of this memoir took his natural eloquence from 
the Deans. His father was a remarkably close 
thinker, a logical reasoner, and a clear Biblical 
expounder, but he had none of those flashes of 
eloquence which characterized Nathaniel. The 
mother died when Nathaniel was young, the 
father lived until 1831 or 1832. 

" The family was made up of seven daughters 
and four sons. The youngest son, Matthew Scott 
Colver, died at the age of six years, from a fract- 
ure of the skull by the kick of a horse. Another 
brother, John D. Colver, a youth of great prom- 
ise and earnest piety, and who had, in the hopes 
and expectations of his parents been early desig- 
nated for the ministry,* died at the age of twenty- 
three. Few hearts were ever so wrung with grief 
as were the hearts of those parents by that death. 

" The surviving brother was the late Phineas 
Colver, who died in 1834. While Nathaniel and 

* According to what appears in a statement by Nathaniel, to be 
found further on, John D. Colver had finally decided to become a 
physician. The time of his death was just as he was entering 
upon the practice of that profession. 



16 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

Phineas both lived, and especially after both had 
entered the ministry, their hearts were like those 
of David and Jonathan, firmly knit together. 
Phineas was the senior of Nathaniel, in the min- 
istry, by some ten years. He was ordained over 
the Baptist church in Champlain, N. Y., in 1810. 
This little body had been gathered through the 
labors of his father, some twelve years previous, 
and though weak in numbers, was a well in- 
structed and united body. It was dissolved by 
the ravages of the war in 1812-14. In March of 
the latter year, Phineas removed to S wanton, Vt., 
and was settled over the church in that place. 
His ministry was eminently successful there, 
und large additions were made to the church. He 
continued in the pastorate of that church till 
1818, when he removed to and was installed over 
the church in Milton, Vt., and soon after he 
gathered and organized a church in the adjoining 
town of Colchester, ministering to both churches 
with gratifying results until 1825. He then 
accepted the call of the church in Fort Ann, N.Y., 
and for some six years served that church and 
the one in Kingsbury. In 1833 he visited a son 
who was in Laporte, Indiana, where he succeeded 
in organizing a church of thirty-five members, 



EAELY LIFE. 17 

and on his way back to his home in the East he 
died at Livonia, Livingston Co., N. Y. As a min- 
ister Phineas was quite unlike Nathaniel. He 
had little of the dash or brilliancy of oratory, 
but was more like his father, close, logical and 
clear. He had a most retentive memory of the 
Scriptures, and had few superiors as a clear ex- 
positor and an invincible disputant." 

Character and genius are in some respects an 
inheritance, in some respects an attainment. That 
from such a stock as has been described above 
should have sprung a nature at once gifted and 
hardy can surprise no one. Yet much of what 
was most marked, both in the gifts and in the 
deeper nature of Nathaniel Colver, was a result 
from the action of peculiar circumstances upon 
the tendencies, both of character and of genius, 
received at his birth. 

He was born at Orwell, Vt., May 10, 1794. 
When he was between one and two years old, or 
in the year 1795, the family removed to Cham- 
plain, in the northern part of the State of New 
York. The life here was even more that of the 
pioneer. Northern New York was then mostly a 
wilderness. Indeed, to this day, in portions of it, 
more of what may remind of the dense forests, 



18 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

with their mighty solitudes, ranges for the hunter 
or ambushes for savage enemies, which once 
clothed almost the whole continent, may be seen 
than in ^ny other district east of the Rocky 
Mountains. What those anxious for glimpses of 
wilderness life seek now in the woods or on the 
lakes of the Adu^ondacks, might, at the time of 
which we write, have been found almost within 
gun-shot of each settler's door. 

But we will allow the subject of our narrative 
himself to sketch the scenes amidst which his boy- 
hood passed. In the year 1864, seventy years 
after the date to which we have referred, while 
upon a visit to Vermont in behalf of the Institu- 
tion at Richmond for educating Freedmen minis- 
ters, to which he had devoted himself, he made 
.use of the opportunity to visit Champlain ; pro- 
ceeding thither by rail from Burlington — his 
mode of travel itself a symbol of the mighty 
changes three-score years and ten had brought. 
We copy from his diary under date of August 
5 and 6, 1864: 

Visited in Champlain, and went to see the old farm where I 
grew up from childhood — from one year old to fifteen. My 
father moved here from Vermont in 1795, and settled on the bank 
of Champlain river. It was then all a wilderness. In Champlain 
and Chazy, two townships, there were but thirteen families. He' 



EAELY LIFE. 19 

built a small log-house on the bank of the river. Nothing now 
but the cellar-hole remains. The large plum orchard and the 
cherry trees are all gone, and the grape vines. There I learned to 
trap the musk-rat and the mink, and also the wolf and the bear. 
I could remember in what direction, and about where, in the wil- 
derness as it then was, my brother next older and myself caught 
four wolves in one winter. We caught them in fox-traps, and by 
fastening the trap to the end of a pole, the wolf was unable to pull 
his foot out. Let me here relate an instance of the sagacity of 
this animal. We set the trap in a springy place, and fastened it 
to a pole, as usual, but there was a hickory pole, long covered in 
the soft, springy ground with briers, moss, etc., that we did not 
notice. The wolf which got into the trap did, and digging under 
the pole passed under with the trap, which thereby had a firm fas- 
tening, and pulling his foot out went on his way, as we found 
when we came to the trap. 

Oh, how freshly the scenes of youth came up to me, as I stood 
by that old cellar-hole. Just across a little river, on the swale, 
my younger brother was kicked to death by a horse one morning, 
as we were leading the horses back from the watering. Then 
first I met death. There, in that little dwelling, some stones of 
which remain, I spent my Sabbaths, with the old family Bible, as 
we had no meeting to go to. Oh, how fresh the remembrance of 
weeping there over the story of the cross. My mother early 
taught me to read and to love that old Bible. All the books I re- 
member in our house for years, was that Bible and father's " little 
Bible," which he took with him when he went to preach, the 
Psalm-book, a spelling-book, and the " Third Part." And I here 
record my gratitude to God, that instead of Sunday School novels, 
I was shut up in my younger days to that dear old Bible. If I 
have any strength in the preaching of the Gospel, to that mother 
and that book am I indebted. I had nothing else to feed my 
mind with, and so I ate up that Bible. Dear, precious Bible ! 
And dear, precious mo'^her, who taught me to love it ! 

Afterwards, we built on the upper part of the fann. That 
house, too, is gone. But there is the well which father and I dug 
together ; and there are some of the apple-trees which I put out 
with my own hands. There my brother older died — a noble 



20 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

young physician. He was always in poor health, so was sent 
off to school and had a fine education. He died of bilious 
cholic, from which he had always suffered. His death was glo- 
rious. The house was full of the kind neighbors. He knew that 
mortification had begun at his feet. He was calm as heaven ; 
telling his Christian experience to solemn listeners, the trial of his 
faith by the way ; shook hands with them all, myself last, and bade 
them farewell. After this he closed his eyes, was quiet for several 
minutes, then opened them and smiled beautifully. He said, 
" These are the happiest moments of my life." After a moment 
he repeated the same words, with the happiest look upon his face, 
and then fell asleep in Jesus. There, at that death-bed side, the 
reality of religion and my own want of it so fastened upon my 
mind that it never left me, till I think it ended in my conversion. 
Oh, the beauty of a young man dying in faith ! 

As I stood there, upon the site of that old house, how time was 
annihilated ! How present and fresh the past ! In my father's 
family there was much hard sickness. I only had good health, 
and mine was the lot of service and toil. But in it all I can see 
the hand of God, in His providential training, and forming my 
body and mind for my subsequent life. I went to the grave-yard, 
the sleepers in which are now being removed. But I could not 
distinguish the graves of my two brothers and my grandmother 
on my mother's side. God will find them at the last day. 

One sister, and a niece, were living in Cham- 
plain at the time of this visit, and by their pres- 
ence would aid him in restoring the links of 
association between present and past. That dis- 
tant past, those years of developing boyhood, 
were full of significance to him, as they also are 
to us. He seems to have been athletic beyond 
his years, and although only fifteen when the 
family returned to the Southward, he was already 



EAELY LIFE. 21 

in a great degree the family dependence for need- 
ful service on the farm. At some time during 
this period, he enjoyed the advantages of two 
winters' attendance at a school. This was all he 
ever had of school-training ; so that there must 
have been truth as well characteristic quaintness 
in his rejoinder when inquired of many years 
later, where he had graduated — "In the North- 
east corner of New York, in a log-heap." To fell 
the timber, break up the new ground, and thus 
convert the wilderness to a fruitful field, was a 
severe tax upon muscles young as his ; but he was 
already preparing for hke work in another field, 
when again he would " hft up the axe against the 
thick trees." Even his sports, as we have seen, 
tended to develop readiness, dexterity and hardi- 
hood. Besides those of which he himself speaks 
in the above extracts, there was also the spearing 
of salmon in the river. In this also he acquired 
great skill. 

And so we find no material difficulty in pictur- 
ing the boy whose manhood was to be so much 
the fulfillment of what was then in diminutive 
type. We have but to reduce the stalwart frame, 
as so many knew it, to slenderer yet still robust 
proportions ; to take away from the face its fur- 



22 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

rows of care and thought, and see instead the 
smooth outlines of boyhood, yet with signs of that 
early maturity which the necessity to early think 
for others as well as himself induced ; to soften 
the glance of the resolute eye, yet retain its 
quick, keen, sagacious outlook upon men and 
things ; and to watch him while courageously 
facing his daily toil, or with the same courage 
tracking and trapping the wild denizens of the 
near forest, or surprising the alert salmon with an 
eye more quick and a movement more swift than 
even his own — and the boy Nathaniel is before us. 
The father was much from home, and the mo- 
ther an almost constant sufferer from ill health. 
The diary of the former, consisting for the most 
part of brief records of preaching appointments, 
indicates that he traveled extensively through the 
region of country about, preaching in dwelling- 
houses, or in the open air, or in barns, or wher- 
ever an audience, large or small, could con- 
veniently assemble. The care of the children 
devolved mainly upon the mother, and how judi- 
cious and wise that was, with what good use of 
the limited means allowed her, the emphatic trib- 
ute of her son, given above, sufficiently shows. 
- When Nathaniel was fifteen years of age, the 



EARLY LIFE. 23 

family removed to West Stockbridge,'Mass. He 
was sent on, for some reason, in advance of the 
family, and it illustrates the resolute spirit of the 
youth, that he performed the entire journey — a 
long, and for much of the way a lonely one — 
upon foot. Little did he know, or dream, toward 
what higher fortunes and nobler destinies he 
went : what a call awaited him in the new home 
to which he looked with a boy's eager curiosity, 
trudging onward with more than a boy's cheerful 
hardihood. 



24 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 



CHAPTER II 



CONVERSION— CALL TO THE MINISTRY— FIRST 
PRE A CUING. — 1809-1821. 

OuE material for any account of that period of 
Mr. Colver's life which immediately followed the 
removal of the family to West Stockbridge, is 
even more scanty than for that already noticed. 
Very probably there would, in any case, be little 
to record. A country lad pursuing some round 
of manual labor, varied by such social opportuni- 
ties as might be afforded in the rustic community 
where he had his home, and possibly by meagre 
and inadequate ones for an imperfect mental cult- 
ure, could, in the uneventful routine of his life, 
supply very little of material to a biographer. 
The single fact which we have to mention for the 
six years between his removal to Stockbridge and 
his coming of age, is the choice which he made of 
a calling. At what time he was apprenticed to 
the trade of a tanner and currier does not appear. 



CONVERSION — CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 25 

We simply know that when, upon arriving at 
young manhood, he comes before us in a more 
conspicuous way, this is the business in which he 
is engaged, and for which he had evidently pre- 
pared himself with the expectation of making it 
the occupation of his life. 

Incidents, however, which we shall notice di- 
rectly, suggest the belief that even during this 
period of obscurity he had not failed wholly in 
calling attention to himself as one who might 
have other work in the world than that to which 
he had first put his hand. The fact, alone, that 
immediately upon his conversion he was spoken 
of by those who had known him from boyhood as 
one having gifts for the ministry, and this even, 
so far as appears, before he could have had much 
opportunity to exercise himself in less conspicuous 
spheres of Christian usefulness, is significant to 
the effect suggested. Indeed, all acquainted with 
his more marked characteristics as developed 
later, will readily understand how impossible it 
was that even as an uncultivated youth he should 
have been quite lost in the common crowd of 
such. It is impossible to believe that such public 
questions as were filling the land with excitement, 
just at the time when he was beginning to look 



26 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

out upon life witli the consciousness that he him^ 
self must there act a part, failed to rouse within 
him the spirit which in later years kept him in 
full sympathy with all that most nearly concerned 
the weKare of his country and his race. He was 
twenty years of age when the War of 1812 began. 
We cannot suppose that Stockbridge, though a 
remote country town, took no share in the stir- 
ring questions which so deeply concerned the 
national honor and the inviolability of the national 
flag ; or that the voice which a few years later 
was heard from one end of the land to the other 
in the advocacy of more than one great cause, was 
now wholly silent. Some degree of practice even 
in public speaking he would seem to have had ; 
and we can scarcely imagine him even thus early 
opening his lips without impressing such as heard 
him with the conviction that he was one of those 
who have things to say that are worth the hearing. 
This supposition is confirmed by an incident 
which occurred in a brief campaign he himself 
made near the end of the war. In 1814, Wash- 
ington having been burned by the British and 
Philadelphia being threatened. New York itself 
was believed to be in danger. The Governor of 
the State, De Witt Clinton, accordingly issued a 



CONVERSION CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 27 

call for six thousand militia to rendezvous at that 
city for its protection. It must have been simply 
his desire to serve his country which induced Mr. 
Colver to take part in this enterprise. As a resi- 
dent of Massachusetts, the call of the Governor of 
New York could have had no other interest to 
him than such as he himself chose to allow. We 
find him, however, enrolled with the troops as- 
sembled for the protection of New York, and 
remaining for several months in camp with them ; 
their location being upon a hill near where Canal 
street now crosses East Broadway. The enemy 
not advancing upon the city as had been antici- 
pated, the citizen soldiery found httle occasion 
for their service, and Mr. Colver enlivened the 
dullness of camp life by reverting to his trade 
and making shoes for the soldiers. It was charac- 
teristic, however, of his versatile and ready spirit, 
when, one of his fellow-soldiers having been 
arrested and taken before some city magistrate, 
Mr. Colver, dropping the last and hammer, 
stepped at once into the sphere of the advocate. 
Having, or thinking that he had, some reason to 
doubt if his comrade would be treated fairly in 
the pending examination, he demanded permis- 
sion to defend him, which he did to such good 



28 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

effect that the man was acquitted. The feature 
of this incident which gives it value for us, is the 
fact that a gentleman of means, Avho was present, 
perceived in the off-hand advocate such signs of 
talent that he came to him after the trial was 
over, and though a stranger offered, if he chose 
to make the law his profession, to put him in the 
way of obtaining a legal education. This Mr. 
Colver declined, returning unambitiously to his 
soldiering and his shoe-making. Occasion for 
further military service on the part of himself and 
his compatriots not appearing, they were soon 
discharged, and returned to their homes. 

All the evidence before us indicates that as a 
boy and a young man Nathaniel's character re- 
mained, morally, without a reproach. We have 
before us two or three of the letters written by 
him when at the age of twenty or twenty-one 
years to the lady. Miss Sally Clark, who after- 
ward became his wife. They are not suitable, of 
course, for insertion in these pages ; being the 
unstudied and unadorned utterances of a youth 
writing for the eye of one person only, and with 
no other object in view but to commend himself 
to the object of his affections. There is in these 
letters, however, a manly simplicity and direct- 



CONVERSION — CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 29 

ness, a serious and candid tone, which show them 
to have been dictated by a mind ruled by virtuous 
principle. It would seem, in fact, that the im- 
pression left upon him by the incident narrated 
by himself, as quoted in the preceding chapter, 
that of his brother's death, remained with him 
during all the years which elapsed until his 
conversion. These impressions imparted to his 
thoughts a serious tone, and exerted upon his 
actions a curbing effect, while gradually ripening 
toward the point of decided conviction. They 
were especially strong with him during his con- 
nection with the army, and by no. means left him 
upon his return home. 

Precisely under what circumstances these im- 
pressions assumed the more intense form of posi- 
tive conviction, we are unable to say. How 
decided this conviction must have been all will 
realize who are aware with what strength in his 
later life every kind of religious impression or 
experience laid hold upon him. The culminating 
point was reached one night as he was returning 
by a lonely road over a mountain, from an even- 
ing meeting which he had attended. The pres- 
sure upon his thoughts was so severe that he 
found it impossible to proceed, and turning aside 



30 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

into the woods that lined the road, he spent the 
night in wrestling prayer. As day broke upon 
the mountain there was a day-dawn also in his 
soul, and he came down the hill as one who had 
seen God face to face. There was a song for 
liim in all the voices of nature around him, and 
even things inanimate, --much more the rejoicing 
birds and the quietly grazing flocks, seemed to 
sympathize with him in his gladness. 

One morning, during his last illness, the follow- 
ing lines, written by him at some time in the 
night, were found lying upon his table : 

Cheer up, my trembling soul, be strong ; 
Cling fast to thy old midnight song. 
Though fierce the conflict, hard the fight. 
The victor's song is thine to-night. 

A reminiscence, without doubt, of the conflict 
and victory of that night on the mountain. 

Upon one occasion during this last illness, Mr. 
Colver, without entering into the details we have 
just sketched, gave to a visitor his own impres- 
sion of the nature of the spiritual change which 
in his conversion took place. He had been speak- 
ing of his Christian hope. 

"It is true, is it not," he had said, " that when 



CONVERSION — CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 31 

God saves a soul the end is always contained in 
the beginning?''^ 

He then went on to illustrate this, in tlie story 
of his own conversion. It was wholly of God : — 
the arresting and awakening influence : the heavy 
pressure of conviction, which he bore about with 
him many days : the spirit of supplication that 
brought him at last to his knees in utter prostra- 
tion of all his pride, and humble confession of 
guilt that has no apology ; that view of the 
things of Christ which showed him that he had a 
Saviour ; and that faith, at last, which took him 
out of himself, and with no plea upon his lips but 
that Jesus had died for him, cast him on the sole 
mercy of God through Christ; the "joy unspeak- 
able" that followed — it v/as all of God. It is 
remembered that he described the great transac- 
tion as if it had been a conversation between 
the Spirit of God and his own soul, in which 
these questions were pressed home : 

" Do you acknowledge yourself a sinner, de- 
serving only wrath and death ? " 

" Do you eonfess that God is just in your con- 
demnation, and would remain just, were he to 
punish you forever ?" 



32 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

"Do you accept the atonement of Jesus as 
your one hope ? " 

" Do you confess that it was necessary, that it 
is sufficient?" 

" Will you follow Him whithersoever he go- 
eth?" 

To all these his soul made answer, " Yes," and 
the covenant of God with him was written and 
sealed in that hour. In that beginning, he said, 
the end was contained. Not that he himself had 
nothing further to seek or to do, but that it is so 
impossible for God to fail in his covenant, or for- 
sake his own work. Having begun that work he 
would perfect it unto the day of the Lord Jesus. 

Judge Culver says : " It was while his brother 
Phineas was in the pastorate of the church at 
S wanton, Vt., that Nathaniel, who was then liv- 
ing with his father in West Stockbridge, Mass., 
had opened a correspondence with him, as to 
coming there and going into the leather-tanning 
and shoe business with him. A letter was re- 
ceived from him in 1817. His brother had read 
but a few lines of it when he rose from his seat, 
his chin quivering, his eyes filled with tears, 
walked across the room, and said to his wife, 
' Well, Nathaniel's tanning and shoe-making are 



CONVERSION — CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 33 

done. The Lord has taken him in hand.' The 
writer of this," adds Judge Culver, "well remem- 
bers the introductory sentence announcing the 
fact ; ' Dear brother, above all else I want to tell 
j^ou what the Lord has done for me.' " 

He was baptized June 9, 1817, by Elder John 
M. Peck, then upon a visit to West Stockbridge ; 
a providential and significant , intersecting of the 
life-paths of two notable men. They did not 
think alike upon all questions in their subsequent 
career, and more than once came in collision. 
After one of these occasions at a meeting in Bos- 
ton, the subject of difference being the then all- 
engrossing one of slavery, Mr. Peck exclaimed, as 
he retired, somewhat the worse for the encounter, 

" Anyway, I baptized him ! " 

Mr. Colver had not attained to the peace of 
mind and the settled views in which he now 
rested, without severe conflict. His father was, 
in his doctrine, a strong Calvinist ; one of those, 
too, for whom the views indicated by that term 
were the all-important articles in a Christian's 
faith. In his preaching he dwelt much upon 
them, and lacking the facility of illustration and 
the more attractive method by which the preach- 
ing of his son was characterized, his sermons were 



34 NATHANIEL COLYEE. 

perhaps fully as likely to create as to relieve per- 
plexity. It may be, too, that at West Stockbridge 
Mr. Colver found himself in an atmosphere more 
or less charged with doctrinal controversy. This 
had been the home of Jonathan Edwards, when 
driven from his pastorship at Northampton. Here 
those two formidable works on " The Freedom of 
the Will " and on " Original Sin" had been writ- 
ten. It may be presumed that the effect of such 
a personality as that of Mr. Edwards would con- 
tinue to be felt long after its actual presence had 
ceased, and that the minds with which young Col- 
ver came most in contact were those which had 
been moulded under doctrinal teaching such as will 
ever stand associated with the name of Edwards. 
We do not find, however, that he was ever seriously 
inclined to skepticism. He had simply to fight 
out the battle which to many another earnest mind 
has been inevitable. But he came cut, as the ac- 
count above given of his conversion shows, pre- 
pared to accept, to rest in, and take all his com- 
fort from the doctrines of grace. These same 
doctrines filled ever a large place in his preaching, 
ae they did also in his experience. Nor was he 
unmindful of the fact that to mere worldly wis- 
dom, as to the Greeks of old, they are " foolish- 



CONVEESION — CALL TO THE MINISTHY. 35 

ness ;" neither, was he of the still further fact, illus- 
trated in his own experience, that even honest 
and candid minds may often be perplexed with 
these deep problems. 

"Mr. Colver," said a Methodist minister once, 
after hearing from him a strong sermon upon the 
doctrine of election, " Mr. Colver, I think you 
will find that a very hard doctrine to get down 
men's throats." 

" I think so too," was the quiet rejoinder. 

At another time, preaching in a neighborhood 
where strong prejudice against this doctrine pre- 
vailed, with an ignorance of the Bible correspond- 
ingly great, Mr. Colver repeated in his sermon, 
and as a part of his argument, nearly the whole "of 
the eighth of Romans. The people, offended 
especially with this portion of the sermon, were 
quite confounded when they came to know that it 
was neither Calvin nor Colver, but Paul, with 
whom they were at issue. 

As Mr. Colver was a Calvinist, so was he a 
Baptist, from conviction. Although educated in 
the views of this denomination, he entered, while 
considering the subject of a public profession of 
his faith, upon an independent and thorough 
inquiry. That he might have both sides, he pro- 



36 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

cured from the Congregationalist minister all the 
books he could supply him with, and satisfied 
himseK by personal examination and search where 
alone the truth was to be found. It was in these 
earnest studies, with a view to the soundness and 
stability of his personal faith, that his preparation 
for the public ministry before him mainly con- 
sisted. A conscientious student of divine things, 
he became a teacher of others not without having 
first grounded himself in clear conviction, and 
such measure of knowledge as was within his 
reach. 

One aware of the great enjoyment which Mr. 
Colver seemed always to find in preaching, and 
also of his remarkable readiness in every kind of 
public address, might not be prepared to learn of 
the shrinking diffidence, the almost insurmounta- 
ble reluctance with which at the first he contem- 
plated the Christian ministry when pressed upon 
him as a work to which the Lord had called him. 
Untried as yet in stated public speaking, painfully 
sensible of the deficiences of his education, having 
a very strong conviction as to the sacredness of 
the calling and the momentousness of the charge 
it implied, he met the first proposals of his breth-. 
ren that he should take this office upon him with 



CONVERSION — CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 37 

a firm refusal. He had, also, others to consider 
besides himself. April 27, 1815, he had been 
married to Miss Sally Clark. One son, John Dean 
Colver, had been born to them. It behooved him 
to remember that the welfare and comfort of his 
family must be considered in a decision which 
might separate them from certain means of sup- 
port. His wife's father and mother had their 
home also with him, and being inclined to skep- 
ticism would afford him small encouragement. In 
his wife, however, he had one like-minded with 
himself, and of her sympathy and approval he 
could feel sure, even should he accept a calling 
which then promised to set before both wife and 
husband a career of peculiar seK-sacrifice. For, 
untried as he was, what reason had he to presume 
that his sphere of work or his lot in life would 
differ from those of other ministers, toiling in 
obscurity with the merest pittance of pecuniary 
return ? ^ 

His chief difficulty, however, was in what he 
felt to be his personal unfitness. Accordingly, 
when the subject was urged upon him, his answer 
was, "I am a child, I cannot speak." An inci- 
dent, however, soon occurred which took the 
question out of his hands and in some sort settled 



38 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

it for him. Intelligence was received at Stock- 
bridge, one Saturday afternoon, that a preacher 
was wanted for the following day at Austerlitz, a 
town in New York, just across the line. There • 
was no minister at liberty to go, and the deacons 
of the church being applied to said, at once, 
" Nathaniel Colver must go." When addressed 
accordingly, Mr. Colver promptly declined. It 
was out of the question. Upon being urged, 
however, he finally consented to go to the place 
of meeting in Austerhtz, next morning, and hold 
a prayer-meeting ; but for him to preach was 
impossible. Next morning he went. His own 
description in later years of that Sunday morning 
ride, and of his sensations as he drew near the 
place, were peculiarly graphic. He felt the 
presentiment that an ordeal was before him ; that 
he would not be allowed to compromise matters 
in the way he had proposed. As he came near 
the house and observed the signs of a consider- 
able assemblage in waiting, his heart sunk within 
him. He half resolved to turn back. Keeping 
on, however, he fastened his horse in some suit- 
able place, and proceeding with a beating heart 
to the church-door, he was there met by the 
deacons, who greeted him kindly, but showed in 



CONVERSION — CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 39 

their manner and their words that a sermon was 
expected. 

" I cannot preach," said Mr. Colver, " I have 
only come to conduct a prayer-meeting." 

" You see," said they, " that the house is full. 
We must have a sermon. The people look for it, 
and must not be disappointed." 

" But I have not even a text." 

One of them gave him the words, "This is afaith- 
ful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that 
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." 

" I think I do know a little about that," said 
Mr. Colver, his courage reviving faintly. 

He entered the house and the pulpit. During 
the opening service the burden seemed crushing, 
but as he gave out his text and began to speak it 
grew lighter. The subject opened to him beyond 
his expectation, and while all were delighted 
and surprised at the sermon which followed, he 
himself was more surprised than any of them. 
At the close it was announced, without consulting 
him, that he would preach again in the afternoon, 
and at the close of this sermon that he would 
preach a third sermon at a school-house, a few 
miles away. This last was the best of all. His 
father and mother were present, and the joyful 



40 i^ATHANIEL COLVER. 

old man, turning to his wife as the service 
ended, exclaimed, " Our Nathaniel is a preacher ;" 
a judgment dictated not wholly by parental pride 
and affection, but confirmed in the verdict of 
thousands since. 

Prom this time forward there could be no fur- 
ther doubt. As rapidly as possible Mr. Colver 
put his affairs in a condition to allow him to 
devote himself wholly to the work, preaching 
meanwhile as called upon, chiefly at Austerlitz. 
In the year 1819 he removed to West Clarendon, 
Vermont, and here he was ordained, remaining in 
charge of the church two years. " This pastor- 
ate," says Judge Culver, " may be deemed the 
morning of his ministry. Crowds flocked to hear 
the young preacher. His elder brethren treated 
him with great kindness, and the church was 
greatly blessed under his labors." He still had 
misgivings, and many times, after preaching, felt 
that he could surely, in his lack of culture, and 
imperfect acquaintance with divine things, never 
find anything more to say. Some word of God, 
however, would kindle the flame afresh, and in 
the glow of thought, and feeling matter, and utter^ 
ance abounded again. More and more, too, he 
learned to give himself wholly up to God. " I 



CONVERSION — CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 41 

felt," he was accustomed to say, afterwards, " I 
felt that I belonged to God, no longer to myself ; 
and that henceforth I would think of God and 
God's cause, and leave Mm to take care of Nathan- 
iel Colver." 

The following, written apparently about this 
time as an article for the '' Rutland Herald," 
although crude, as might be expected, as a com- 
position, is still interesting, since it shows the 
working of his mind, and the tenor of his convic- 
tions with regard to the office he had now under- 
taken ; 

" Speak unto us smooth things : prophecy unto us deceits," was 
the language of the multitude of old, nor is the natural heart 
at this day less averse to the heart-searching and sin-condemning 
doctrines of divine truth. Men of the world are still calling for 
" smooth things." " Smooth things" alone are acceptable, from the 
most refined moralist down to the most vulgar and profane, together 
with all those professors of religion who think it of but little con- 
sequence what they believe or how they practice with regard to the 
distinguishing doctrines of Christ's invisible church, provided they 
are only Christians and get to heaven. Their language is, 

Speak thou, but mind and shun the truth, or if 
The truth you speak, speak that so smooth, so well 
Mix't up with flattery that all our 
Consciences may sleep. 

Hence those ministers who are always careful to select that part 
of truth in which all are agreed, or which may be wrested to suit 
the views of all, or who, if they declare the whole counsel, are 
careful to wrap it up in flattery, or make an ambiguous applica- 
tion of it, are sure of the popular applause ; while the man of 



42 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

magnanimity, who boldly speaks plain, naked and necessary truth, 
commending himself to every man's conscience, is at once con- 
demned as bigoted, uncharitable, or a disturber of the peace. 
This was abundantly exemplified in. all the faithful prophets, in 
Christ and his apostles, and has been in every discriminating 
preacher down to the present day. 

. But the greatest cry, at present, and one that prevails the most 
against the faithful herald of the truth, is, " He preaches too 
plain." If you ask them, "Was it not the truth?" they answer, 
" I do n't know but it was, but it was too pointed ; it cuts off eai-s ; 
it was unreasonable ; it has given offence." But let me ask, did 
not the truth always give offence to the haters of it? If by 
cutting off ears, they mean that it causes men to stop their ears, 
it is granted that it does. When Stephen preached the truth so 
pointedly, it caused the whole multitude to stop their ears, and 
produced his death. " When they heard these things they were 
cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. Then 
they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and 
ran upon him with one accord." But what then ? Should it be 
withheld, or so modified as not to arouse the sleeping conscience, 
or should it be undisguisedly declared, whether men will hear, or 
whether they will forbear ? 

But the complaint is, still, " It was too plain ! " Let me ask 
again, can gold be too pure, or truth too unadulterated? for so we 
must all meet it in a judgment day. Says our Saviour, " I judge 
him not ; the words that I speak, they shall judge him." But 
what if men wish to be deceived? Should the ministers of the 
gospel, for a momentary good, gratify their unwholesome desire ? 
It is said policy should be used ; that the skillful physician will 
beguile a very nauseous pill down his patient's throat by conceal- 
ing it in something acceptable to him. But will this kind of 
policy do, in dealing truth to the haters of it ? In what shall 
it be concealed ? If in other truth, that is equally disgusting. 
Should it be concealed in flattery, or the least offensive error? 
Will not that be holding the truth in unrighteousness ? Besides, 
truth mixed with error becomes untruth, and of course will do no 
good. Would a witness under the solemnity of an oath be justi- 
fied, who for fear of giving offence should keep back part of the 



CONVERSIONT — CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 43^ 

V truth, or who should testify in such a manner as to remove the 
idea of guilt and wrest judgment ? Certainly not. Then let the 
minister, whose obligation is equally solemn, remember that if 
in delivering his message he keeps back a part, or says anything 
that shall take the edge off the sword of the Spirit, so that there- 
by the conscience is lulled to sleep, he himself becomes account- 
able. 

It is true that by sliding round all controverted points a min- 
ister will please more and gather a larger flock by whom he will 
be called a good shepherd ; but he will not distinguish between 
them that serve God and them that serve him not. He will con- 
found the precious with the vile ; and if you hear their voice at 
all, it will not be the mild bleating of the lamb but the harsh 
gi-owling of the mastiff. By so doing he may escape the bonds of 
Paul ; but he can never, like him, say he has fought a good fight. 
He may get the woe which our Saviour mentions, when men 
shall speak well of him, but he will never wear the crown of the 
faithful. He may be crowned by the deceived with the laurels of 
philanthropy ; but by the eye of true wisdom he will be discerned 
an enemy of man, a pusillanimous betrayer of the sacred dispen- 
sation committed unto him. 

These robust and earnest words sound the key- 
note of a ministry, more than half a century in 
duration, which, whatever may have been its 
faults, certamly was never chargeable with weak- 
ness or want of fidelity. 



44 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 



CHAPTER III. 



PA STORA TE AT FOR T CO VINGTON— MISSIONAR V 
WORK IN NORTHERN NE W YORK.— 1821-1828. 

We commence this chapter with the following, 
for which we are indebted to Mr. William Ken- 
dall, of Neponset, Mass. ; 

"It was in the fall of 1825, 1 think, that a noble- 
looking man called at a public-house in New 
Lebanon Springs, N. Y., just in the edge of the 
evening. He was on a journey. He at once 
inquired of the keeper of the hotel if there were 
any Christians there who held evening meetings. 
He was answered that the Baptists held them 
whenever they could get a preacher. The 
stranger then said that he was a preacher of the 
gospel, and desired the landlord to inform the 
people that if they would make arrangements for 
a meeting, he would preach to them that evening. 
Accordingly the necessary notice was given. It 
was the custom, there, when a preacher was 



PASTORATE AT FORT COVINGTON. 45 

obtained to notify tlie people by ringing the 
academy bell, but the meeting, it was understood, 
would be at the new Baptist meeting-house. 

" A large number came together on this occa- 
sion, many of them, no doubt, attracted by mere 
curiosity, and by the peculiar manner in which 
the preacher had introduced himself. No letters 
or credentials were offered, or called for. As he 
entered the pulpit, the people saw that, whoever 
the stranger might be, he was no ordinary man, 
and their attention was fully awake to hear what 
he might have to say. He opened his Bible and 
announced to the audience that he usually preach- 
ed without notes, but on the present occasion he 
had concluded to use notes, though fully aware of 
the prejudices in the minds of the people of that 
section of country against the practice. He had, 
he said, a printed sermon, better than he could 
himself get up ; in fact, the oldest and best ser- 
mon that was ever delivered, and by the greatest 
preacher that ever lived. 

^ " It was Christ's Sermon on the Mount, and the 
masterly manner in which he illustrated and set 
forth the great truths there contained, made it 
seem to me, and others older than myself, that we 
had never properly read those chapters before. 



46 NATHANIEL COLYER. 

The preacher seemed to speak almost as one in- 
Expired. One thing is certain, he held his audience 
in rapt attention for nearly an hour and a half. 
"When he concluded the sermon and dismissed the 
meeting, all, young and old, gathered about him 
to express their gratitude, and to inquire Avho he 
was and from whence he came. He informed 
them that his name was Nathaniel Colver, and 
that he belonged to the Shaftsbury Association.* 

" In concluding this little sketch, let me say 
that no sermon I ever heard, and I have heard a 
great variety, made such a lasting impression on 
my mind. I cannot fully realize that so many 
years have passed since that impression was 
made." 

We are grateful for this glimpse of the man 
whose career we are studying, the earlier steps of 
whose progress out of the obscurity in which he 
began to the conspicuousness he finally attained 
are for the most part so much hidden. The little 
narrative just given explains to us the impression 
which, by all accounts, Mr. Colver made wherever 
he went, and also how it was that in a singularly 
short time his name became almost a household 

* Then a very large body, embracing the churches of Northern 
Vermont and New York as far as to the Canada boundaries. 



PASTORATE AT FORT COVINGTON. 47 

word among Baptists tliroughout the northern 
districts of Vermont and New York. In every 
place he kept the great errand of his min- 
istry in view ; while his striking figure and 
bearing, and that original something in all that 
he said which riveted attention, with the peculiar 
and often most apt and forcible way in which he 
illustrated truth, made it impossible that even a 
casual visit, like the one described, should fail to 
leave behind it enduring traces. This grew to 
be still more emphatically true when, as we shall 
in due time see, he became a leader and a cham- 
pion of those great movements of reform by 
which the popular mind of that period was so pro- 
foundly stirred. 

At the date of the incident just given, Mr. 
Colver had left his pastorate at Clarendon, and 
had entered upon his second settlement of that 
kind at Fort Covington, in New York, near the 
northern line of the State. Visiting a relative 
at that place, sometime near the close of the year 
1820, and preaching there, he received, soon after, 
a call, the peculiar circumstances of which seem- 
ed to put it out of his power to decline. At that 
time there was neither minister nor church, of 
any kind, at Fort Covington. There was not a 



48 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

praying man in the place. A few pious women, 
of different denominations, met weekly in a 
prayer-meeting. This was the only semblance, 
even, of a religious service which the town had 
known since its beginning, save when some minis- 
ter was providentially present and preached to 
such as were inclined to come together. Among 
the praying women spoken of was a Scotch lady, 
who had been connected with the chutch of Dr. 
Wardlaw, in Edinburgh, Scotland. She had the 
religious fervor and steadfastness of her nation. 
In due time she became a Baptist, and although, 
on this account, treated with great harshness by 
her husband, remained firm in her faith, and de- 
voted to her pastor. Having been turned out of 
doors by her husband, on account of her religion, 
she was compelled to work for her livelihood, and 
on this account, one day when she brought a 
dollar to pay her subscription to her pastor's 
salary, Mr. Colver hesitated to receive it, saying 
that she was too poor to be expected to share in 
such burdens. 

" And because I am poor," was her reply, 
"shall I ha' naething in the treasury of the 
Lord ?" 

Fort Covington, originally called French Mills, 



PASTORATE AT FORT COVINGTOX. 49 

took its name from General Covington, who was 
killed at the battle of Chrysler's Falls, Nov. 13, 
1813, and was buried near a block-house at French 
Mills, which from him received the name of Fort 
Covington, and gave the same name to the place. 
General Covington was a brave man and a good 
officer. He was a native of Maryland, and had 
served one term as a representative in Congress. 
He had fought in the West under General Wayne, 
sharing, among others, in the engagement with 
the Indians called the battle of Maumee Rapids. 
The engagement in which he lost his life was one 
of a series of bootless ones in which the American 
army on the Canada frontier were involved through 
the bad leadership of General Wilkinson. It may 
have possibly afforded some consolation to the 
country at the time that the British, on their own 
part, were quite as unskilfully led, and that if the 
Americans lost much, the enemy gained nothing 
in consequence. 

The more rapid opening of that portion of New 
York, and the prospect that its lumber might now 
find ready market and become a valuable staple, 
led the citizens of French Milk, or Fort Coving- 
ton, to antieipate that their village, through its 
advantages in these respects, might grow into an 



50 NATHANIEL COLVER 

important center. Realizing, also, that religious 
institutions are essential in every well-organized 
community, the leading men of the place, though 
without personal Christian experience, were pre- 
pared to welcome the opportunity that seemed to 
offer, in the visit of Mr. Colver, for procuring 
such a pastor as they needed. An ordinary 
preacher would perhaps have failed to meet their 
views. Mr. Colver had in him the elements 
suited to impress and control robust and enter- 
prising minds. They could see that he carried 
into his ministry a spirit like that which moved 
themselves to hardy and resolute undertakings, 
and were not the less ready to listen to him 
because they found him outspoken and fearless. 

The letter which he received, after his return 
to Clarendon from the visit of which we have 
spoken, inviting him to Fort Covington, was as 
follows : 

Rev. Mr. Nathaniel Colver ; — Sir. — Tlie inhabitants of 
this village and its vicinity, having made arrangements for the 
regular preaching of the gospel, in this place, and being favored, 
by divine Providence, vi^ith your ministerial labors here, though 
but for a short time, are seriously impressed with the importance 
of truths which you so satisfaxtorily delivered unto them : and 
are unanimous in their desire that you would come and settle 
with us as our minister. 

To that end, a number of the citizens met and constituted the 
undersigned a Committee to confer with and invite you to settle 
in this place and take charge of our little flock. The under, 
signed, from a unanimous consent, are authorized to offer you 



PASTORATE AT FOKT COVINGTON. 51 



four hundred dollars. It is, however, understood that you will 
want a considerable part of this sum in the produce of the country- 
necessary for the support of a family. 

We, together with the citizens that have heard you, believe that 
you may be the means of much good to this people, that are 
destitute of the preached gospel. The Committee trust that you 
are fully apprised of our infant state of society, and that you will 
accommodate yourself to our condition and to our wants. The 
Committee present you their sincere respects, and their best 
wishes for your personal welfare and happiness. 

John Aiken, 
SiBIUS Fairman, 
Luther Danforth, 
A. M. Hitchcock. 



Fort Covington, yan. 29, 1 82 1. 



James B. Spencer. 



Mr. Colver entered upon his pastorate at Fort 
Covington in June, 1821. Some things appear in 
the few papers found amongst his manuscripts re- 
lating to that period under consideration, which 
may help us take our minds back to his frontier 
parish, and realize to ourselves the surroundings 
amidst which his work on that field began, and 
the emotions with which he contemplated it. 
Among these papers is the subscription list upon 
which as a pecuniary basis his work seems to- 
have commenced. We find upon it sixty-seven 
names, comprising, probably, no small proportion 
of the church-going citizens of the place. Their 
subscriptions range from one dollar to fifteen ; 
only two being found of the latter sum, and only 
one other as high as ten. The aggregate is $242. 



52 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

It appears by the letter of the Committee that the 
salary promised was four hundred dollars. The 
deficiency in the subscription, as compared with 
this amount, was probably made up in the way 
intimated by the Committee, " in produce of the 
country necessary for the support of a family." 
We may feel certain, also, that agreeably to their 
anticipations he showed himself "fully apprised 
of their infant condition of society," and ready to 
"accommodate himseK to their condition and 
their wants." 

Something further of a like kind appears in a 
letter written by him very soon after arriving to 
his wife, whom, on" account of her infirm health, 
he had found it necessary to leave with the fami- 
ly of his brother-in-law, Mr. Minor Branch, in 
Pawlet, Vermont. We take such portions as are 
of interest to our present topic. The letter is 
dated at Fort Covington, June 28, 1821. His 
young son, John Dean Colver, had accompanied 
him : 

We arrived in town last Saturday evening, in good health, and 
found the people here anxiously expecting us, and somewhat dis- 
appointed that you were not with me. I was welcomed here by 
every one. I find things more pleasant than I expected. They 
have provided for us a very convenient dwelling-house in a beau- 
tiful situation. The Committee became responsible to me for the 
sum which was talked of, and pay as much in money as I shall 



PASTORATE AT FORT COVINGTON. 53 

need, * * We board with Brother Clark.* I have a veiy 
pleasant study in an upper room, from the windows of which, al- 
most every morning and evening, I can see from one to three 
deer within about a hundred and fifty rods, playing in the mead- 
ows. We have every now and then a good fat quarter of venison. 
I think you will be much delighted with this country. I am 
pleased with it beyond all my expectation. The streams are 
beautiful, the land even, and richly clothed with verdure ; and I 
do think, with the addition of one flower (that rose which once 
styled itself a daisy f ), its charms to me would be complete. 

How much a trial to him was this separation 
from his wife, and how great his anxiety on ac- 
count of her health, appears in another part of 
the same letter ; 

Nothing shall be wanting on my part, in coming for you when- 
ever ypu shall write to me that you will be able to move. I trust 
that your feelings are correspondent with mine, and that thus you 
will in some good degree realize my anxiety while absent from 
you. I think, and think, and think over again, of the past happi- 
ness of your society, and can hardly be resigned to the length of 
time that must elapse before I again enjoy it. I feel very anxious- 
ly concerned about your health, and shall continue so till I receive 
an answer to this. But I have one consolation, and that is, I feel 
in some measure to commit you to the keeping of a holy God, 
while, though distant from each other, I trust that our prayers 
meet at the throne of grace. I hope you will not forget me there'. 

The sorrow which was so soon to come was al- 
ready beginning to shadow his heart and his 
home. Two other sons besides the one already 

* The husband of his sister apparently, and the relative to visit 
whom had first brought him to Fort Covington. 

f Alluding to a correspondence before their marriage, in which 
he spoke of her as a rose, and she of herself as a daisy. 



54 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

mentioned had been born to him : Phineas Clark 
Colver, at West Stockbridge, Mass., and Charles 
Kendrick Colver, at Clarendon, Vermont. When, 
after some months, his little household had been 
gathered to the new home, this presentiment of a 
pending separation was the one cloud in his do- 
mestic sky. In his work he seems to have been 
happy, while prospered in a marked degree. As 
he was about leaving Clarendon for this new field 
of labor, a brief letter from his father had, with 
apostolical fervor and devoutness, " commended 
him to God, and to the word of his grace." 
" Wherever God calls," this letter says, " it is 
safe to go ; but wherever your lot is, take heed to 
the ministry you have received, and as far as 
Providence will permit, devote your time, talents 
and heart, to the study and ministry of God's 
word. Remember Christ's words, ' Without me, 
ye can do nothing ; ' and again Paul's, ' I can do 
all things, through Christ strengthening me.' " 
It was a saying of this good man, that " it is dan- 
gerous for a minister of the Gospel to err. God 
will be sanctified in those that come nigh him." 
The veteran preacher evidently looked to this 
son with peculiar hope, and the mingled blessing 
and charge with which he now seemed to set him 



PASTORATE AT FORT COVINGTON. 55 

apart afresh, were like those of Jacob to the sons 
of Joseph. 

One additional glimpse of the more private life 
of this time must be allowed us, before we pro- 
ceed to other topics. In November of the same 
year Mr. Colver visited his wife, still in the family 
of Mr. Branch, in Pawlet, a small town in Yer-. 
mont, near Rutland. In a letter written immedi- 
ately after his return, he says : 

I know by my own feelings your anxiety to hear from me, and 
hasten to gratify your wish. I preached in Granville the evening 
after I left you. The next day, at two o'clock, took the boat, and 
at three on Sunday morning landed in Burlington. From thence 
I went on foot to Phineas', seven miles, and preached in the even- 
ing. On Monday rode to Richmond and preached in the evening. 
On Tuesday returned to Burlington ; took the boat Wednesday 
morning about three o'clock ; landed in Plattsburgh just at day- 
light ; walked six miles to Judge Newcomb's ; borrowed a horse 
of him, started the next morning, and arrived here, over the mud- 
diest and worst roads I ever saw, on Saturday morning, at nine 
o'clock. I was received very kindly by the people. There are 
quite flattering prospects of a reformation. * * * i think at 
times that I enjoy a comfortable degree of the divine presence, 
and indeed I need it much. I am in a dark land, and an unculti- 
vated field. There is much moral death around me, but I feel 
encouraged. Some mercy-drops have already fallen, and we pray, 
yea we hope, for more. The Lord's arm is not shortened, that he 
cannot save. 

The wife for whose presence he so much longed, 
arrived in the new home some time during the 
winter following the date of this letter. But she 



56 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

did not come to remain. Three years it pleased 
God to permit Hm still the companionship he 
prized so highly, though they were years of suffer- 
ing, and of constant decline. Often he carried 
her in his arms from her room to the carriage, on 
taking her out to ride. February 27, 1824, she 
died. She left a little daughter, three months 
old, who survived her less than a year: passing 
away to her mother's arms again Nov. 5, 1824. 
Of his experiences in connection with the death 
of his wife we have no record. Of his little one 
he says : " I will not complain. God has early 
taken his own, and though mine is a severe loss, 
she is undoubtedly happier in her mother's and 
her Redeemer's embrace than she could be in 
mine. What a cheering dawn is the lighting-up 
of immortality upon the grave, through the resur- 
rection of Jesus Christ ! " 

While Mr. Colver labored diligently in his 
pastorate at Fort Covington, he did not forget 
the wide destitution about him. In speaking of 
his work during the period under consideration, 
we must therefore view him both as a missionary 
and as a pastor. In Fort Covington his preaching 
early took effect, so that in a few months a church 
was organized. For a time, however, he felt 



PASTORATE AT FORT COVINGTON. 57 

deeply the lack of Christian companionship. In 
alluding subsequently to this season of loneliness, 
he would sometimes speak of a fractious deacon 
who, in some church where he had labored before, 
had caused him much trouble. He would say 
that in Fort Covington, in the early days of his 
ministry there, he thought more of this deacon 
than of almost anyone else, and was ready to 
declare that if he only had some one whom he 
could address as " brother," he might be as im- 
practicable in other respects as he pleased. 

The place of meeting was at first in the town- 
house. In due time, however, a meeting-house 
was built ; while in this, as in the room first 
occupied, the divine presence and power were so 
manifested, that in no long time the pastor had, 
in faithful brethren, helpers of his joy as well as 
of his work. We are not able to give the num- 
ber to which the church had grown when, at the 
end of seven years, he left the pastorate ; it had, 
however, become a strong and influential body. 

While making Fort Covington the center and 
chief seat of his labors, Mr. Colver, as we have 
already said, devoted much time and toil to desti- 
tute points more or less in the vicinity. One of 
these was Malone, the county-seat, seventeen 



68 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

miles away. There lie had a stated appointment, 
observing it with such regularity that even his 
horse acquired the habit of punctual attendance. 
On one occasion, the animal having strayed from 
home, proceeded straight along the road he had 
traveled so often, and duly reported himself at the 
gate of the deacon, at whose house his master 
usually stopped. In these missionary journeys, 
Mr. Colver traveled mostly on horseback, and his 
tall figure, wrapped, when the weather was cold, 
in a camlet cloak, gathered about the waist with 
a long scarf, or belt, soon became a familiar and 
a welcome sight in many a hamlet and many a 
rude, remote dwelling. 

Under these labors the whole country about 
was moved, the people gathering from long dis- 
tances in such places of meeting as could be had, 
and listening with the eagerness of those to whom 
the gospel of man's salvation is a precious gift, 
and eternal life or death great and awful realities. 
One instance is recorded when, a meeting being 
appointed at a certain school-house, in the winter 
time, families came for miles on their ox-sleds, 
completely filling the house, and crowding about 
the door on the outside. Mr. Colver stood in the 
door and till far into the night preached to them 



PASTOKATE AT FORT COVINGTON. 59 

the word of life. Some thrilling scenes occurred. 
On one occasion, in the midst of his sermon, the 
preacher, as he went on, noticed a peculiar still- 
ness in the congregation. After a little one and 
another bowed their heads. He noticed this with 
uneasiness, fearing that either he was losing their 
attention or had given offence. In time, the 
whole congregation seemed affected by the same 
influence, — and then followed a scene never to 
be forgotten. As the sermon closed, men unused 
to weep were seen to be overcome with emotion, 
while one after the other they arose, making con- 
fession of sin, and in their sense of the awful 
divine presence exclaiming, "What a holy God! " 
The marked feature of Mr. Colver's public 
career during this period was that connection 
with the anti-masonic movement of which we 
shall speak in the next chapter. Of his work 
as a pastor and a missionary, we attempt no 
minute detail. It must suffice to say that this 
work suffered nothing through his activity in the 
cause of reform, save in so far as detraction and 
hostility may have barred his way by prejudicing 
against him the minds he sought to reach 
and to influence. This connection with reform 
he regarded ever as a part of his ministry ; 



60 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

SO that he never considered it a turning aside 
from his proper calling when, in obedience to 
earnest calls, he stood forth as the champion of some 
cause in which he saw to be involved vital inter- 
ests of society and the race. Nor did his interest 
in revealed truth seem ever to suffer diminution 
through his devotion to other forms of truth. So 
it was, that in the heat of his anti-masonic struggle 
he kept his heart ever fresh in its devotion to the 
ministry of salvation, while the wilderness and 
the solitary place were glad for him. Some in- 
stances of his method in dealing with points of 
denominational difference may be added to what 
we have said of his work in general. 

Near Fort Covington was a Scotch settlement, 
the people of which were Presbyterians, but came 
often to hear Mr. Colver. One day a woman of 
that settlement brought a child to him, to be 
baptized. He asked her some questions, as to her 
reasons for wishing this to be done, and then 
gave her a copy of the New Testament, telling 
her to read it, and when she found a passage there 
directing that infants should be baptized, to bring 
the child and he would baptize it. The woman 
went away, and Mr. Colver did not see her again 
for a long time. Meeting her at last, one day. 



PASTORATE AT PORT COVINGTON. 61 

he asked her about the passage touching infant 
baptism. 

" Ah," said she, " I did not find it ; but I got 
mj child baptized, and no thanks to ye !" 

Two Scotchmen hving some forty miles away, 
in the wilderness which then stretched along 
nearly the whole extent of the Canada frontier, 
had been led by their study of the Scriptures to 
have doubts of the vahdity of the baptism they 
had received as Presbyterians. At the time they 
began this inquiry, they had not yet heard of 
such a people as the Baptists. Learning, how- 
ever, at last, of the Baptist church at Fort Coving- 
ton, and of its pastor, they came the whole dis- 
tance of forty miles, on foot, that they might 
become acquainted with them and with their faith 
and practice. Being invited to relate their ex- 
perience to the church, they did so, but before 
receiving the ordinance requested permission to 
make inquiry as to the doctrines held by the 
church and taught by its pastor. Mr. Colver was 
accustomed afterwards to say that no candidate 
for ordination was ever more thoroughly catechised 
than were the church and himself on that occa- 
sion. Happily the result was satisfactory, and 
having been baptized, the two brethren, like 



62 NATHANIEL COLVBR. 

another long ago, "went on their way rejoic- 
ing." 

At Malone a deacon of the Presbyterian church 
came under Mr. Colver's preaching and influence, 
and was soon convinced of the irregularity and 
inadequacy of the baptism he had received. It 
was very hard for him, however, to break the 
bond of his connection with those in whose fellow^ 
ship he had lived so long, and he shrank from a 
public profession of his new faith on these and 
kindred points. The struggle of inclination with 
the sense of duty lasted so long and brought upon 
him such " a horror of great darkness," that his 
Christian hope was almost extinguished in the 
gloom. At length he yielded, and found in the 
renewal and enlargement of former joyful experi- 
ence, how much better is obedience than sacrifice. 

His method in dealing with those controversi- 
ally inclined, is illustrated in the following: 

A man once said to him, " I cannot be a Bap- 
tist. I cannot get on with your close commu- 
nion." 

Mr. Colver replied, "Why not go with the 
Methodists, then?" 

" O," said the man, " I do not believe in falhng 
from grace." 



PASTORATE AT FORT COVINGTON. 63 

"Well, then, go with the Presbyterians." 

"I can't," said he, "I don't like their sprink- 
ling and infant baptism." 

" Well," replied Mr. Colver, " why then do you 
blame us for not going where you cannot go your- 
self?" 

While these labors were in progress, Mr. Colver 
found a lack in his home and in his heart. There 
was no mother for the little children, no wife to 
cheer and help himself. About one year after his 
bereavement, as before described, he made the 
acquaintance of Mrs. Sarah F. Carter, of Platts- 
burgh, widow of Mr. Luther Carter. A corre- 
spondence began which ended in a proposal and 
acceptance of marriage. The ceremony took place 
at Plattsburgh, January 25, 1825, the officiating 
clergyman being the Rev. Isaac Sawyer. In one 
of the letters written to Mrs. Carter, previous to 
their marriage, the following characteristic pas- 
sage occurs: "In tendering you my heart and 
hand, though I think I can do it with that affec- 
tion and those sentiments which become so inti- 
mate a connection, still it must be in subjection to 
God, in whose service I hope I have once dedi- 
cated them without reserve, or power to recall. 
Indeed, did I think you would be unwilling to 



64 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

enlist with me in it, I should feel myself under 
bonds to desist. But I flatter myself with regard 
to this ; indeed, though I have not been insensible 
to your personal worth, yet the consideration of 
your piety has served to rivet my esteem. With 
regard to future prosperity, I leave it with an 
overruling Providence." Later he writes : " I 
feel deeply afflicted at the situation of the people 
here. Since about the time I left for the East, 
there have been two dancing-schools gotten up in 
our village, in which almost all the young people 
are engaged. Religion, death, and eternity seem 
to be out of the question. It is truly with us a 
time of darkness. The prospect is painful to 
every praying soul. I have not been so much 
discouraged and distressed since I have been here. 
O, that God would arise and have mercy ! " 

In taking to his house and heart this second 
wife, Mr. Colver was not disappointed in the like- 
mindedness for which he had looked. Mrs. Car- 
ter brought with her a young daughter, Mary B. 
Carter, who was to him ever after as an own 
child, and who, when age, and sickness, and death 
came, returned into his bosom many-fold the con- 
stant affection and tenderness shown her by him 



PASTORATE AT FORT COVINGTON. 65 

during the years that followed her first arrival 
under his roof. 

But it is time we suspended these somewhat 
broken and desultory sketches, that we may give 
some account of the events which first called Mr. 
Colver into prominence as an advocate of reform. 
This, however, we reserve for the following 
chapter. 



6Q NATHANIEL COLVER. 



CHAPTER IV. 



ANTIMASONRY, 

No man ever, in entering upon a responsible 
and difficult career, " went out, not knowing 
whither he went," more truly and literally than 
Mr. Colver seems to have done in becoming a 
leader of reform. There is no evidence that he 
had ever imagined for himself any other sphere of 
public service than that of the simple preacher 
and pastor; or that, up to the time when they 
were forced upon him by his own personal expe- 
rience, those questions which soon came to occupy 
him so largely, had in any special way engaged 
his attention. He became a Mason simply be- 
cause he believed that in so doing he could be 
more useful as a minister of Jesus Christ ; he re- 
nounced Masonry, because he had come to feel 
that instead of helping it only hindered such use- 
fulness, and because convinced that he could not, 



ANTIMASONRY. 67 

consistently, be at the same time a Mason and a 
Christian minister. 

In this " Renunciation," pubHshed in 1829, he 
explains his reasons for entering the Order in 
these few words : "I was told by an elderly 
brother in the church, who was an advanced 
Mason, that a knowledge of Masonry would be of 
great use to me in preaching ; that it would open 
to me a source of knowledge on divine subjects 
that I could not have without it. It was the 
opinion of many that I should derive a benefit 
from it in my ministerial labors; that it would 
facilitate my access to many, and give me an in- 
fluence over their minds which would be bene- 
ficial." At what time he thus became a Mason 
he does not tell us, nor are we able otherwise to 
fix the date. He simply says, in introducing the 
matters discussed in this renunciation : " It is now 
a number of years since I made considerable (at 
least nominal) advances in Masonry." He adds : 
" I went as far as the seventh, or Royal- Arch de- 
gree ; besides which I believe I took two of what 
are called honorary degrees." It was, at all 
events, after he became a minister that he joined 
the Order ; very probably either shortly before or 
shortly after his removal to Fort Covington. 



68 NATHANIEL COLYER. 

As his purpose in forming this connection had 
been to secure thereby the power to do more in 
his ministry, so it was first the conviction that in 
this expectation he had been deceived, and then 
the growing persuasion that what he had hoped 
to find a help was proving to be a discreditable 
incumbrance, which led him to examine as he had 
not before done the real nature and tendency of 
the institution. It was no impulse of ambition to 
place himself among the leaders of a great popular 
movement. He does not seem, at first, to have 
even contemplated the likelihood of being himself 
called upon to act in the matter in any public 
way whatever. As he himself was accustomed to 
explain his course, it evidently was simply as a 
private concern, a question of conscience, to be 
considered and settled as much by himself as pos- 
sible, and with as little as possible to invite gen- 
eral attention, that he first took up the question 
of the right or wrong of Masonry. 

The first recorded expression of his views upon 
these topics, besides, has a mildness, almost a 
vacillation, of tone, for which those familiar with 
his naturally positive and outspoken way of deal- 
ing with things would hardly be prepared. One 
such expression we find recorded upon the back 



ANTIMASONRY. 69 

of a letter he had received from Dea. John Co- 
nant, of Brandon, Vermont, then engaged, in the 
face of serious difficulties, in establishing the Bap- 
tist paper, for many years, under the name of the 
" Vermont Telegraph," the organ of the denom- 
ination in Vermont and Northern New York. We 
give Dea. Conant's letter, as necessary to explain 

what follows : 

Brandon, Jan. i6, 1829. 
Rev. Sir : I have but a short time to write, in which it is my 
duty to say, accept of my thanks for your kind attention to our 
paper concerns. I hope we may now and then be favored with a 
communication from you for its columns. We proceed with 
much fear and depression of spirits ; realizing that our present 
number of subscribers will not support the paper, and [that we] 
have to enlarge them and keep on neutral ground, on the ground 
of truth, — that is, not meddling with masonry or antimasonry. 
Some subscribers are disaffected because we will not open our 
columns to these questions, which belong to Caesar's kingdom, 
and which are destroying many of our best churches in Vermont. 
Why do Baptists try to destroy themselves ? Many good Bap- 
tists * * * cannot spare a dollar to purchase the " Telegraph," 
wholly devoted to their interest, but can freely pay money for 
antimasonic papers. It is going through our land like fire in dry 
grass, and I hope the flames will as soon go out. 

Upon the back of this letter we find the follow- 
ing in Mr. Colver's writing : 

It would seem that candor would lead those Christians who are 
Masons to the following conclusion : Our brethren who are not 
Masons will, and have a right to believe the statements that have 
been made, professing to disclose the secrets of Masonry, whether 
they be true or false ; and with that belief, they have no ground 
to suppose they will be satisfied with their brethren who continue 
its advocates and patrons. And hence, whether those develop- 
ments be true or false, it would seem to me that the whole law of 
Christianity urges them to a total discontinuance of their connec- 



70 NATHANIEL COLVEB. 

tion with lodges and Masonry. And further, Masons know 
whether they are true or false, and if they are false, from the rela- 
tion they sustain to their brethren who are not possessed of their 
knowledge, but have reason to believe them true, are they not 
bound to desist ? and if they know them to be true, are they not 
bound by the Word of God to sever the last shred that binds 
them to the institution ? Antimasonic Christians may rest assured 
that Masonic Christians, having been waked up to the subject, if 
the professed disclosures which have been made are true, will by 
their Bibles and consciences be severed from the institution, when 
party and irritation shall so far cease as to let the Bible and con- 
science have their perfect work. 

The " Rennnciation " of which we have spoken 
bears date 30th March, 1829. The letter from 
Dea. Conant, with the endorsed views of Mr. 
Colver, was nearly three months earlier. Mr. 
Colver's miad, we should judge, was nearly or 
quite settled as to the course proper for him to 
pursue ; still, what we have ' quoted of his 
thoughts upon the subject are evidently the 
reflections of a man convinced in his own judg- 
ment, yet so far uncommitted publicly, least of 
all publicly identified with either side in the con- 
troversy. He does not seem, either, to be here 
writing in reply to the letter he had received, 
but simply recording his thoughts and impressions 
while pursuing the train of reflections to which 
the letter itself had led. His reply, as actually 
sent, was as follows : 



ANTIMASOKRY. 71 

My dear Brother Conant : — I received your kind letter, 
and with you very seriously deprecate the contentious spirit which 
seems to infest and trouble our churches. O, when will the eye 
of Christians become single to the glory of God, and intestine 
broils cease from among the soldiers of the cross ! My heart 
groans within me, in view of the many drawbacks from the force 
of that system of truth which the Baptists have embraced, arising 
from the apathy and indifference of some, and the misguided 
zeal of others. Both are alike injurious to the cause of truth and 
piety, and under the deleterious effects of both our churches are 
groaning. 

But the subject you mention, as embarrassing the " Telegraph," 
is one of a peculiar nature. I hope God will give wisdom to its 
directors. I confess that would my advice weigh anything, I 
should be at a loss to give it so as to suit myself. You may 
wonder at the ground on which you find me. I have formerly 
made considerable advances in Masonry, but it is with me a sub- 
ject of repentance, and that, too, on other grounds than that of 
the feelings of my brethren. Allien brethren who are not Masons 
express their trials with it, their trials are mine, and yet I feel an 
embarrassment in relation to the course I ought to pursue. I do 
not blame them for their trials, and it is my prayer that these 
trials may work the clearing of the -church of Masonry, and all 
the lumber of heathenish and sacrilegious rites which are so 
incompatible with the whole genius of the gospel of Christ. I 
have no question in my mind on which side the influence of every 
Christian ought and will finally be cast. With me the only ques- 
tion is, how shall those act in relation to the subject, who have 
come to a decision in it so as not to do more injury than good by 
their exertions ? The zeal of a Jehu is as unholy as the idolatry 
of Ahab ; and I do think that the unhallowed zeal manifested in 
the antimasonic cause will be charged, at least in a very great 
measure, with the desolations of Zion. The disciples of our 
Lord were slow of heart to believe. If we attempt to hasten a 
man by any unskilful or violent effort beyond his measure, forcing 
him to ourselves as the standard of his advancement, we shall 
break his spirit and defeat our efforts. Said Jesus, " I have many 
things to say to you, but ye cannot bear them now." Could I see 



72 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

in those engaged in the antimasonic cause that redeeming spirit 
so clearly exhibited in the conduct of our Lord, my heart would 
bid them God speed. Success would the more readily crown their 
efforts, and vastly less injury be sustained by the bleeding cause 
of our dear Redeemer. 

The history of Mr. Colver's connection with 
Masonry, and his reasons for breaking with it 
finally, are so well summed up by Judge Culver, 
that before proceeding to the few details we have 
to give, we will quote his words. Says Judge 
Culver; 

" During his ministry at Fort Covington Mr. 
Colver, at the urgent solicitation of some of his 
brethren who were Masons, and on the strong assur- 
ance that it would open to him new fields of labor 
and usefulness, united with the Lodge in that place. 
He took several of the lower degrees, and not 
being satisfied with them, was assured that as he 
went on to the higher grades, all would be 
explained. He advanced to the 'Royal Arch 
Degree,' but when being initiated into that he 
demurred to the oath, especially that part of it 
requiring him to conceal the secrets of a brother 
of that degree, ' murder and treason not excepted.'' 
He hesitated, refused the oath, and resolved to 
leave the Order. In due time he gave the public 
his reasons for so doing. They were bold, strong 



ANTIMASONRY. 73 

and manly. They failed, however, to convince 
liis enemies, and his position seemed to have 
aroused the ire of the entire Order. His renunci- 
ation was followed by tlieir bitter denunciation." 
It does not seem that the agitation then so 
great, and rapidly increasing throughout the 
country, caused by the abduction and murder of 
AVilHam Morgan, some three years antecedent to 
the date at which his " Renunciation " appeared, 
had very much influenced Mr. Colver in regard 
to his own personal course. In the paper just 
mentioned, of which we shall presently give the 
material portion, he refers to that subject only 
once, and in a way quite incidental. It will 
be seen, too, that his objections to Masonry, as 
there given, are such as had spontaneously arisen 
in his own mind in view of his relations and 
duties as a Christian man. As Judge Culver 
intimates above, he had made no secret of these 
objections, especially as respects that part of the 
oath already taken by him in its more guarded 
form, which bound him to conceal all the secrets 
of a brother in the order, even though they 
should be criminal secrets. Thus far the oath 
taken had contained the clause "murder and 
treason excepted." He had, however, been led 



74* NATHANIEL COLVEK. 

to believe that in becoming a Royal Arch Mason 
he must swear to conceal snch secrets, " murder 
and treason not excepted." Such an oath he had 
declared, his conscience, troubled already by 
those obligations of a similar kind which he had 
incurred, would never permit him to take. So 
inuch, indeed, had he been influenced by these 
-scruples, that for a considerable time he had 
absented himself from meetings of the lodge, and 
was already contemplating entire withdrawal. 

It was not permitted him, however, to prose- 
cute this purpose in the manner preferred by him- 
self. Being pressed to proceed in regular form to 
the next degree, and a meeting of the lodge having 
been called with a view to afford him the oppor- 
tunity of so doing, he was urged to attend, pre- 
pared for the expected ceremony of initiation. 
He expressed to certain intimate friends in the 
order his strong objections to so doing, and that 
his purpose was nearly formed to proceed no 
further in Masonry. They endeavored to remove 
his scruples, and indeed went so far as to give 
him the impression, if not the positive assurance, 
that the clause which constituted his chief diffi- 
culty was not in the oath. It seems to have been 
their hope that, once in the place of meeting, 



ANTIMASONRY. 75 

surrounded by the accustomed paraphernalia, and 
faced by authoritative mandates on the part of 
his masonic superiors, he would yield and take 
the oath. 

They should have known their man better. 
The idea of intimidating Nathaniel Colver, was 
an extraordinary thing to enter a sensible man's 
brain. After much urgency he consented to 
attend the meeting of the lodge, and upon the 
appointed evening appeared there, accordingly. 
He was taken to the room prepared for the initia- 
tion, in the customary way. The official persons 
to whom the direction of the occasion belonged 
were present, with their usual preparations. One 
with a naked sword in his hand stood at the door. 
The ceremony proceeded until that part of the 
oath was reached which contained the words, 
"murder and treason not excepted." 

" I cannot take that oath," said Mr. Colver. 

" You must take it," replied the chief official. 

Mr. Colver drew himself up, with an expres- 
sion of strong indignation, and in his firmest and 
most emphatic way answered, 

" Gentlemen, I shall never take that oath! " 

" You cannot leave this room alive, unless you 
do," was the reply. 



76 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

This was too mucli. Those officiating in this 
scene were mostly his personal friends of long 
standing ; men holding high positions in society, 
one of them a judge. It was hard to take a step 
likely even to alienate them, and if it had been 
possible to yield the point now at stake, their per- 
sonal influence, apart from any threats, would 
have prerailed. But threats, and the exhibition 
of a drawn sword with a view to intimidate, 
roused all Mr. Colver's manhood. In a few em- 
phatic words he set before them the enormity of 
the wrong they were doing, and the outrage of 
attempting to impose a burden upon his con- 
science against which his whole moral nature rose 
in protest, and then turning, walked straight past 
the drawn sword at the door, and went his way. 

This, of course, completely ended his connec- 
tion with Masonry. From that moment his course 
Avas clear, and from tha^t point onward, we find 
him a champion of those views which hold all 
secret orders, whatsoever, as wrong morally, dan- 
gerous politically, and to be discountenanced by 
every good citizen, above all by every Christian. 
.His "Renunciation" appeared soon after. It was 
issued, first, in the "Franklin Telegraph," a 
paper published at Malone. The editor in intro- 



ANTLMASONRY. 77 

ducing it says : " The following renunciation of 
Freemasonry is from Rev. Nathaniel Colver, a 
Baptist clerg3rman of regular standing, who has 
resided in this county for several years past, and 
whose character for veracity stands fair and un- 
impeached. He has been the first to renounce 
Masonry in this county, and of course must en- 
dure such persecution as Masonic vengeance has 
in store." The date of the paper is April 2, 1829. 
We copy from this document what will indicate 
its character and spirit. It opens as follows : 

In making this communication to the public, I can freely say 
that I have no hostility towards the members of the Masonic 
fraternity ; on the contrary, there are many among them whose 
upright course of life and acts of personal kindness have rendered 
them dear in my affections, and I devoutly wish that a diversity 
of judgment on the subject of Masonry might not sever those ties. 
I only claim what I hold to be an inalienable right of man, on 
this as on every subject connected with the welfare of community, 
to think and judge for myself and to show mine opinion. I am 
not sensible of being actuated by speculative motives. Were 
present worldly good my object, I should certainly secure it by 
silence. Nor do I feel disposed to arraign or impugn the motives 
of any. I am confident that whatever of wrong there is about 
by vastly the majority of Masons in relation to Masonry, is a want 
of carefulness in examining the subject. Nor is it my business to 
disclose secrets. It is in my opinion perfectly childish to talk 
about the secrets of Masonry, when by hundreds of unimpeachable 
witnesses they are laid open to the world. 

After some further words of introduction, of 
which we have already quoted the more important 



78 NATHANIEL COLVEK. 

on a previous page, the writer proceeds to state 
his objections to Masonry : 

I have from first to last been tried with its pretensions to 
divinity ; for what else is it, when God is assumed as the Grand 
Master, and its professed work to fit stones for that spiritual 
building, eternal, in the heavens? I have tried without success to 
satisfy my mind by attributing this to her misguided and enthusi- 
astic votaries. I have been disgusted and tried with many other 
things in it ; but till I had weighed well the moral strength of its 
oaths, and became well satisfied that they are self-destructive, and 
have neither moral nor political strength or obligation, I have 
hardly dared to think or judge, much less to speak my mind on 
the subject. Though for years I have discontinued my practical 
connection with lodges, I have long since felt that the term free- 
masonry was in itself a contradiction, while by the dogmas of 
Masonry the very conscience is trammelled ; and it is my decided 
opinion that Masonry is a moral evil^ a political evil, and an impo- 
sition upon the world. Nor have I come to this opinion, or the 
expression of it, in haste, or lightly. It has been with me a closet 
work. I do in my heart believe it is a moral and political evil, 
and an imposition upon the world. 

I believe it is a moral evil, in that its specious ceremonies are a 
combination of Christianity, Judaism and heathenism. Its oaths 
are licentious and profane ; and so far as there is weight in them, 
they rob its votaries of the inalienable rights of man. In its titles 
and degrees it is highly profane and blasphemous. 

I believe that it is a political evil, in that like the silent leech it 
sucks the very life-blood of civil justice, and palsies the executive 
arm of lawful authority, by carrying in many instances a secret 
though successful influence into the bar, upon the bench, and into 
the jury-room. Or if it chooses to thunder vengeance from the 
bar, the bench or the jury, it can yet stay execution, or facilitate 
the escape «f the guilty ; while it erects a tribunal of its own, un- 
sanctioned by the laws of God or man, from which it extends a 
secret, multifai-ious and dreadful arm, before which thousands of 
consciences have fallen a prey. ***** 



ANTIMASONRY. 79 

I believe that Masonry is an imposition upon the world. She 
boasts of light, and science, and knowledge. But these she only 
possesses in name. When brought forth to the light, and to the 
scrutiny of untrammelled investigation, what is she ? Even her 
more enthusiastic patrons and votaries are ashamed of her — trait- 
orously deny her personage and their allegiance, till they can drag 
her back into the dark, where phosphorus-like alone she shines, and 
where alone they can stupidly bow at her shrine as a mighty god- 
dess. It is said that she has ever taught morality ; and so did her 
protot}'pe, the Church of Rome, while at the same time for daring 
to think or speak for themselves, she doomed thousands of the 
disciples of Christ to the stake. ***** 

I am aware of the critical situation in which Masons find them- 
selves. Encountering the furious storm of public excitement, and 
having sailed for many days without sun, moon, or stars, they have 
" fallen into a place where two seas meet ; " the waves of con- 
science, truth and religion are beating in upon one side, while the 
waves of Masonic pride, oaths and -vengeance are beating with no 
less fury upon the other. The fore part of their vessel is fastened 
in the mud, while the hinder part is broken by the violence of the 
waves. The soldiers have already counselled to kill the prisoners ; 
but the voice of the centurion is heard, and they that can swim 
are fast casting themselves into the sea, and it is devoutly to be 
hoped that it may soon be recorded of them all, that they escaped 
safe to land. Gentlemen, you have yet the faculties of men ; even 
Masonry has not destroyed them — she has only bound them for a 
season. Break her fetters — stand up! and avoid that duplicity 
and dishonesty to which she would bind you with her immoral 
oaths. 

The conclusion is as follows : 

^' Some of you are the professed followers of the meek and lowly 
Redeemer. I hope you will read the second chapter of Paul to 
the Colossians, and the fourth of Paul to the Galatians, and be led 
to separate yourselves from Masonic rites and ceremonies, which 
are so incompatible with the whole genius of the simple, plain, 
open, frank, and holy Gospel of Christ. Your brethren have 



80 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

looked within the door ; their hearts are pained. Will you feed 
their grief by a stubborn adherence to that which you in con- 
science feel is not right ? or will you listen to the call of Christ, to 
come out and be separate, and touch not the unclean thing? 

Such words as these could not be expected to 
appear, especially in a time of great public excite- 
ment upon the subject to which they relate, with- 
out exasperating the one party quite as much as 
they delighted the other. They were reprinted in 
other portions of the country, and soon brought 
to Mr. Colver numerous letters, many of them 
from persons whose names were wholly strange 
to him, thanking him for the stand he had made, 
and expressing the joy their writers felt in a 
championship so outspoken, fearless and unspar- 
ing, of what seemed to them principles so vital. 
But he soon had reason to know that feelings of a 
very opposite character had been stirred. A form 
of persecution began which persistently followed 
him for many years : that of detraction and slan- 
der. At this late day it is quite unnecessary to 
even mention the tenor of the various accusations 
which were set afloat, none of which ever gained 
the shadow of a substantiation. It was singular, 
however, that a statement so easily disproven 
should have been sent abroad, as that Mr. Colver 



ANTIMASONRY. 81 

had been disciplined and dismissed from his 
church for immorality. 

For a time these attacks were borne in silence. 
Mr. Colver had given no other public expression 
of his views upon Masonry than was contained in 
his " Renunciation." He had disclosed no se-. 
crets, had made no speeches against the Order, 
and in his preaching discussed only topics such as 
had always formed the substance of his ministry. 
In the judgment of his friends, however, a time at 
last came when ij seemed demanded of him that 
he should speak. Several gentlemen in Malone 
had addressed him a letter, soon after his public 
renunciation of Masonry, expressing their cordial 
sympathy with him in his views, and their deter- 
mination to " use their utmost endeavors to sus- 
tain him against any persecution he might suffer" 
on account of the step he had taken. They in- 
vited him to address the citizens of Malone, in the 
Court House in that village, at any time which 
might be to liimself convenient. 

Becoming satisfied, at length, that to remain 
silent was no longer possible, he determined to 
accept the invitation, and sent an appointment 
accordingly. The court-room, on the day named, 
was thronged. As Mr. Colver entered and pro- 



82 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

ceeded to the platform from which he was to 
speak, he found the space within the bar occupied 
by well-known Masons, among them some of those 
present upon the occasion when he had refused 
the Royal Arch oath and who had been active in 
the effort to bind him with that chain. They 
were to try intimidation once more. They did 
not believe that with such a group immediately 
under his eye, and almost within touch of liis 
hand, he would dare to say what they dreaded, 
but what so many others hoped, to hear. 

They were mistaken. Perceiving at once their 
purpose, he determined to disappoint them. He 
began his address by alluding briefly to the scan- 
dals which had been put in circulation regarding 
himself. To these he made no other reply, how- 
ever, than simply to invite any who pleased to 
visit Fort Covington and ascertain for themselves 
his standing in the church and in the community. 
Proceeding, then, to the subject of his renuncia- 
tion of Masonry, he gave, in plain language, with- 
out violence or harshness toward any, the history 
of his connection with the Order, and his reason 
for leaving it. As he went on, he appealed to the 
Masons sitting in front of him to correct him if 
at any point he stated what was not true. He 



ANTIMASONEY. 83 

then recited, simply, without reserve and without 
coloring, the incident of his refusal of the oath 
with the attendant circumstances, calling again 
upon those sitting near, hearing every word, and 
watching every motion, to say if in anything he 
departed from the truth. They maintained un- 
broken silence. Not a word of contradiction, nor 
even of inquiry passed their lips. They saw that 
the public sentiment was with the honest, earnest, 
fearless man who was speaking, and the contem- 
plated intimidation once more was for them, not 
him. 

From this time forward Mr. Colver took and 
held his place as among the foremost advocates of 
the principles of Antimasonry. It is not neces- 
sary that we should go into particulars as to his 
services in that cause. We find him, however, 
repeatedly summoned to address conventions and 
other gatherings, in various parts of the country. 
July 16, 1829, he is invited to speak at a State 
Convention to be held at Montpelier, Vt., on the 
5th of August following. Later in that year he 
addresses a meeting of the church and friends 
generally, for the consideration of the matter of 
Free-Masonry in Royalston, Vt. June 4, 1830, he 
is invited to lecture on the subject of " specula- 



84' ITATHANIEL COLVEE. 

tive Free-Masonry " to the citizens of Mount Holly 
in the same State on the fourth of July, and about 
the same time a like invitation came from Claren- 
don. We find him, also, at a county convention 
held, in the same year, at Woodstock, Yt., then at 
another similar convention held at Randolph. 

The change of pastorate, of which we are to 
speak in the next chapter, brought him into a new 
field, alike as a preacher and an advocate of re- 
form, enlarging his influence, and bringing under 
the sway of his eloquence and his strong convic- 
tion a very great number of persons, to many of 
whom he remained ever after the heau ideal of the 
impassioned, intense, courageous reformer. Un= 
sought by him, a new sphere had opened ; one 
which could be occupied without abandoning that 
to which he had given himself in a yet higher 
consecration. It is not too much to say that among 
those who were chiefly instrumental in arousing 
and directing public sentiment with reference to 
the wrong and peril of secret orders such as that 
of Masonry, Nathaniel Colver ranked always with 
the very foremost. 



NEW FIELDS AND NEW LABORS. 85 



CHAPTER V 



NEW FIELDS AND NEW LABORS. — 1828-1831. 

The last two years of Mr. Colver's stay in 
Northern New York were occupied in labor quite 
miscellaneous. He seems to have relinquished the 
pastoral care of the church at Fort Covington, 
save so far as he shared this with service at other 
points ; as at Malone, Ogdensburg, and Gouver- 
neur. During the same period we find him acting 
as the missionary of the Northern Missionary Con- 
vention, and as agent of the Baptist Education 
Society of the State of New York. This latter 
appointment bears date April 6, 1826, but appears 
to have continued during the remainder of his stay 
in the more Northern field. The appointment was 
announced to him by Dr. Nathaniel Kendrick, 
then at the head of the Institution at Hamilton. 
As affording us a ghmpse of a man whose memory 
is a Baptist heirloom, and of the work in which 



86 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

he was tlien engaged, we may copy here the letter 
by which this announcement was accompanied : 

Dear Brother : You will, in accepting the above appoint- 
ment, consider yourself a standing agent for the time being to re- 
ceive and forward all moneys designed for this object in your 
region ; and if you can spend a little time between this and the 
first of January in securing aid for the funds, we will compensate 
you for your time, allowing what we allow other agents, which is 
five dollars a week. You may perhaps obtain a subscriber or two 
to the foregoing Constitution. We shall be happy to see you at 
our annual meeting, the last Wednesday in May. Examinations 
of the schools will take place on the Monday and Tuesday before. 

Concerning the Institution, Dr. Kendrick 

writes : 

We have just received seven promising pious natives from tne 
Pottawottamie tribes, and Carey Station. Brother McCoy, whose 
praise is in all the churches, as a missionary in that tribe, is here 
with them. Our school is enlarging considerably beyond our 
funds, and at present beyond our conveniences for room. We 
are commencing another building, loo feet by 60, four stories 
high. If we could obtain a few hundred dollars from your region, 
either for the building or the funds, it would help us very much. 
We have about $1,500 to pay by the first of June to meet the 
arrears of the present year. The whole expenses of the school 
for the year will be over $3,000. We are informed that your INIis- 
sionary Society has appropriated a small sum to this Institution, 
and that individuals in your region are willing to afford us some 
aid, if they wera favored with an opportunity. We wish to obtain 
your assistance for that purpose, for which you will please accept 
the appointnsent herewith sent. 

It seems, therefore, that the agency was unso- 
licited by him; that, however, it was accepted 
and its duties discharged with considerable effi- 
ciency and success, appears from subsequent cor- 
respondence. Of his work as the missionary of 
the Northern Convention we find but a single 



NEW FIELDS AND NEW LABORS. 87 

memorial, in the shape of a brief report to that 
bodj, even the date of which is not given. In 
this he says: " I have spent in your service eight 
Sabbaths in Hopkinton and Parishville, four in 
Ogdensburg, two in Massena, one at Hogansburg, 
one at De Kalb, two in Upper Canada, making in 
all eighteen ; besides which most of the weeks 
have been spent in your service, visiting churches, 
preaching, visiting and baptizing. The number 
baptized in the bounds of the Association is 206. 
In visiting the church in Bastow, Upper Can- 
ada, a very happy termination has been put to the 
unhappy difficulty of which the Society is aware, 
and which was spreading its effects through all our 
denomination in that Province. I can say that in 
obeying your command I have found it truly 
blessed. The Lord has appeared for his churches. 
I have found a spirit of liberality that bespeaks 
the joy with which your feeble messenger has been 
received." 

Upon another loose piece of paper we find a 
memorandum of the work during a single month ; 
work, however, performed somewhat earlier than 
the time of this appointment, the record being 
dated January, 1826. It illustrates all the same 
his method of labor. With Fort Covington as his 



88 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

center he seems to liave spent the month in daily 
labor in preaching and other services, there and in 
the region about. We find that in twenty-eight 
days twenty-six sermons were preached, so dis- 
tributed that not above two of them were in any 
one place. We judge that this may fairly repre- 
sent his work in general, more particularly after 
he had devoted himself wholly to missionary ser- 
vice. There was great need of such, not only in 
the numerous communities and settlements where 
no provision existed for a stated ministry, but in 
the larger towns, where the churches themselves 
were too often " as sheep having no shepherd." 
One of these was at Ogdensburg, where it was 
earnestly hoped, at one time, he might be induced 
to settle as pastor. As a picture of the state of 
things which Mr. Colver saw in all directions on 
that field, and which we know profoundly stirred 
his sympathy, we copy the following from a letter 
dated at Ogdensburg, March 21 1827 : 

There is a great field for labor, about this place. A number of 
scattered Baptists may be found in the region round, hid amongst 
the rubbish, and who need to be dug out. There is a small 
church in the town of Morristown, which needs to be looked 
after, and has been long neglected by our order. As we look 
over the field, we find a great many persons who have once belong- 
ed to Baptist churches, but having been long without the ordin- 
ances of the church, are'almost ready to faint. They need look- 
ing after, and there must be some one to strengthen the things 
that remain. It dpes appear to be a duty for our order to do 



NEW FIELDS AND NEW LABORS. 89 

something to reclaim these wandering backsliders. And now it 
seems that the Lord has opened a door by which this may be 
accomplished, without applying to the Missionary Board. If we can 
support a minister in this place, he can have all the week to labor 
among the people alluded to and plenty of ground to labor upon. 
Further, we think it very important that this place should be sup- 
plied with the preaching of the true gospel at once ; in other 
words, that you yourself come immediately. 

To this urgent call Mr. Colver yielded so far as 
to visit Ogdensburg, and spend some time there. 
The church pressed him hard to make that place 
his home, and to finally settle with them as 
their pastor. In the meantime his church at Fort 
Covington was entreating him with like urgency 
to return to them. What he found in Ogdens- 
burg, a lett-er to his wife, dated May 22, 1827, in 
some degree indicates. He says : " You will 
probably wish to know how I get on here. I can 
hardly tell you. As yet, we have had nothing in 
the church but labors and expulsions, but we 
hope the corn will grow better when we get it 
weeded out. I found the church in a dreadful 
situation, but there are many precious brethren in 
it, and I think prospects are brightening. Other 
appearances are favorable. There are some 
candidates waiting for baptism ; our meetings are 
full and solemn, and as yet all men speak well of 
the preacher. Probably the tone will soon change 
when they see the effect is to promote Baptist 



90 NATHANIEL COLVEB. 

interests. But I feel disposed to leave every 
event in the hand of God. I find good friends 
here ; the people are kind, but I do not feel at 
home." 

While these labors were in progress the exciting 
events detailed in the last chapter were also 
transpiring. Detraction was busy with the 
preacher's name, yet he kept the even tenor of 
his way. How little such attacks availed is 
shown in the fact already mentioned that the 
church he had served so long in Fort Covington, 
and where he was thoroughly well known, still 
clung to him as the pastor of their choice ; while 
at Ogdensburg he was pressed with such 
entreaties as we have seen. As it became known 
that he could not accept the latter call, the 
church in Gouverneur came forward with a like 
invitation. At the same time, however, similar 
calls were reaching him from a field further south, 
and the circumstances taken together seemed to 
indicate that the call of Providence was in that 
direction. This other call was a joint one of the 
churches in Kingsbury and Fort Ann, in Wash- 
ington county. We may here once more quote 
from Judge Culver's notes : 

" It was just about the time of his call to 



NEW FIELDS AND NEW LABOKS. 91 

Kingsbury and Fort Ann that his position as to 
Masonry was made public. These churches but 
preferred their claims the stronger, when this 
was known. Their position on that question, 
like that of several of the neigboring churches, 
was early taken. The old Bottskill church,* for 
nearly forty years under the charge of Elder 
Edward Barber, and of which Mr. Colver himself 
subsequently became pastor, took the lead in 
opposition to the Masonic institution. Some 
eight or ten of the churches united with Kings- 
bury, Fort Ann and Bottskill, and formed in 1831 
or 1832 the ' Bottskill Baptist Association.' This 
body continued its district organization until 
1834, when the Washington and Bottskill Associ- 
ations united in one body, adopting a common 
Antimasonic article, and were long known as the 
' Washington Union Association.' " 

Speaking in another place of this call to Fort 
Ann and Kingsbury, Judge Culver says: "He 
hesitated for a time, whether he should accept. 
Northern New York was every year presenting 
new fields. Calls, there, for aid from churches, 
people and ministering brethren, were multiply- 
ing. Remonstrances against his removal poured 

* At Union Village, Greenwich, in the same county. 



92 NATHANIEL COLYEE. 

in from all quarters. But the situation of the 
two churches calling him was peculiar. Their 
late pastor, Eev. Phineas Colver, had fallen under 
the censure of some of his brethren, for his real 
or imputed views concerning the Christian Sab- 
bath. These brethren had charged him with 
denying any authority for the Sabbath. The 
churches to whom he ministered did not so under- 
stand him ; but rather that he held the Jewish 
Sabbath to be a part of the Jewish ritual and law, 
and blotted out as one of the handwritings of 
ordinances, by Christ ; but that the first day of 
the week, being the day on which he rose, was by 
his immediate followers adopted as the Christian 
Sabbath ; and hence that his resurrection on that 
day, the practice of the disciples, the designation 
of it by John, in the Isle of Patmos, as the Lord's 
day, and the uniform practice of the early church, 
were sufficient for the observance of it as the 
Christian Sabbath. In these views the two 
churches concurred, and sustained him. For this 
they were threatened with proscription, as was 
any one who should become their pastor. Their 
condition was critical. Timid men feared to 
preach to them, and their enemies predicted their 
downfall. 



NEW FIELDS AND NEW LABORS. 93 

" In this dilemma, they turned their eyes to 
Nathaniel Colver. He well knew their position 
and sentiments, as he did those of his brother, 
their late pastor. He differed from them both, as 
he did also from those brethren who condemned 
them. He took his authority for the Sabbath from 
the Creation^ brought it down from thence inde- 
pendently of the Mosaic economy, and accepted 
the first day as substituted in place of the seventh 
with the sanction of Christ, his apostles, and the 
early church. He at length yielded to their 
request, and in 1829 removed to Kingsbury." 

The Committee of the Kingsbury church who 
addressed him upon the subject of this proposed 
change in his pastoral relations, urged the call 
upon him in terms like the following : " It would 
be insufficient to say that the church are unani- 
mous in calling you to be their minister. To this 
should be subjoined their very importunate 
request that you should gratify our ardent desire ; 
for we consider ours an urgent case, and we hope 
and trust that we shall not be denied, however 
unworthy we are. We are further authorized to 
say that the views of the society hereabouts cor- 
respond with those of the church ; and, in short, 
joy and satisfaction seem to light up the coun- 



94 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

tenances of all around us, since encouragement 
lias been given that you will come." 

It was by no means into an element of peace 
and quiet that Mr. Colver entered, in removing to 
Kingsbury, The question affecting the views of 
his brother and predecessor had been agitated in 
such a way as to become an oc(^asion of much dis- 
turbance and division. To a quite unnecessary 
excitement upon the subject, had been added, as 
is so often the case among Baptists, crude and 
irregular disciplinary proceedings. We have not 
access to the details of these proceedings ; but 
their general character may be inferred from the 
tenor of the following inquiries, addressed by Mr. 
Colver to Rev. Norman Fox, then pastor of the 
Baptist church in Ballstown. The purpose of the 
inquiries was to indicate points in whi(3h it was 
believed that the course adopted in the case of 
Rev. Phineas Colver and the churches of Fort 
Ann and Kingsbury had been irregular and un- 
scriptural. The inquiries, so far as they relate to 
the principles involved, were as follows : 

1. Does a Council or Association possess disciplinary poAver? 

2, Suppose a Council are divided in their decision, and the 
ch,urch sees fit to adopt the decision of the minority ; is there 
official power with the majority to exclude the church from the 
fellowship of sister churches ? 



NEW FIELDS AND NEW LABORS, 95 

3. Suppose a few enemies to yourself should prefer the charge 
against you that you were a Universalist, and should succeed in 
getting a decision of the majority of a Council that you were 
guilty, and that the church ought to exclude you ; but the church 
should still judge with the minority of the Council that you were 
not guilty, and refuse to exclude you, proclaiming at the same time 
their disapprobation of the heresies charged against you ; would 
they thereby forfeit their standing as a church ? And 

4. Suppose the majority of the Council, as above, should pub- 
lish their result, and carry it to an Association, and the Associa- 
tion should sanction their decision, and formally exclude your 
church ; would this act be officially binding upon your sister 
churches ? 

5. If a Council and Association should do as above, would it 
not be usurpation of authority, which every church would be 
bound to resist ? 

6. Has it not been one of the greatest sources of danger to the 
church of Christ, since the days of the Apostles, that disciplinary 
power has been assumed by popes, bishops, councils, and other 
bodies not authorized by Jesus Christ, and ought not our churches 
to watch against it with a holy jealousy, vigilance, and uncom- 
promising integrity ? 

Further light upon the true character of these 
proceedings, may be gleaned from the following, in 
which Mr. Colyer proposes to give his corres- 
pondent a view of the case as it then stood. He 
claims, 

1. That Elder Phineas Colver has been excluded and published, 
while the decision of any church with which he was connected has 
neither been had, nor sought for. 

2. That no gospel labor was ever taken with him ; and 

3. That these churches, in order to escape the censure of the 
majority of the Council, must compromise the judgment of the 
minority of the Council, and their own judgment, and censure a 



9b NATHANIEL COLYER. 

minister -who in the judgment of both was innocent of the here- 
sies laid to his charge ; and further, they must sanction a course 
of discipline obviously at war with any rule found in the Bible 
which prescribes the course to be pursued with an offending 
brother. 

It would appear, therefore, that the majority of 
a Council had assumed the right to exercise church 
discipline in the case of Rev. Phineas Colver, and 
this without even consulting the church to which he 
belonged. That his brother's protest against such 
a proceeding should be indignant and strong, was 
to be expected. His closing words are : " I am 
aware that there is something imposing in the 
decision of a large and respectable Council, but 
nothing which ought to induce the church of God 
to swerTe in the least from his word. ' The coun- 
sel of the Lord, that shall stand ; ' and, ' Woe unto 
them that seek counsel, but not of me.' Already 
have our churches become vastly too lax, both in 
making themselves acquainted with the rules of 
discipline, and in the execution of such discipline, 
in the expectation that if they get into trouble a 
Council will help them out. Any attempt at in- 
fringement upon the prerogative of the church, or 
to deprive any of the members of a church of a 
fair trial by and decision from the church, should 
be as severely viewed as would be an attempt in 



NEW FIELDS AKD NEW LABOBS. 97 

our courts of jurisprudence to infringe upon the 
rights of a jury, or to deprive a defendant of the 
trial and decision of a jury. Shall such proceed- 
ings be justified? " 

To the day of his death, Mr. Colver found occa- 
sion to protest against irregularities more or less of 
the kind here in question ; so strong is the ten- 
dency where difficulties and complications arise to 
act upon the dictates of impatience, to he con- 
vinced by rumor, and driven by clamor. He re- 
mained to the last staunch in his testimony against 
all views or practices which tended to invade the 
independency or usurp the prerogatives of the 
church of Christ. 

As the pastor of churches, therefore, put out of 
the fellowship of the denomination, however 
unjustly, Mr. Colver's position was one of trial 
and difficulty. Not less so was it in view of the 
stand he had taken in opposition to Masonry, and 
the bitter hostility excited against him in conse- 
quence. Less of direct fruit, for these reasons, 
was gathered in his labors as preacher and pas- 
tor, while events were bringing him into positions 
of increased activity and prominence as a reformer. 
He found himself speedily in association with men 
of like spirit with himself, some of whom, like 



98 NATHANIEL COLYEE. 

Edward Barber, in Union Village, Isaiah Matte- 
son, in Shaftsbury, and Elder Tinkham, of White 
Creek, were his superiors in age and length of 
service ; while others, such as Archibald Kenyon 
and Elder Wait, were either younger than him- 
self or at the same age ; yet all alike recognizing 
his eminent gifts, as one born to lead. Gradually, 
too, his acquaintance extended to points more dis- 
tant, and he became known and appreciated by 
men, such as Dr. Brantly, of Philadelphia, occu- 
pying positions of conspicuous usefulness. 

The conflicts occasioned by his course on ques- 
tions of reform were often very painful. Public 
excitement on these questions reached an inten- 
sity such as may be realized by those who recall the 
history of events immediately preceding and follow- 
ing the late War of the Rebellion. Perhaps the com- 
parative newness of the topics discussed, and the 
freshness of that contact with them into which the 
public mind was brought, made the flame burn 
more fiercely. That all the bitter things said, and 
all the harsh, unjust, and cruel things done were 
limited to either of the parties to this great strug- 
gle, no one will claim. It may be said of Mr. 
Colver, however, in strict justice, that whatever of 
error appeared in him was not in the direction of 



NEW FIELDS AND NEW LABORS. 99 

gratuitous bitterness, or of personal rancor. The 
name by which he beheved that any institution, 
any practice, any avowed principle, ought to be 
called, was invariably the name by which he called 
it, assailing institutions and principles, rather than 
men. That men, however, should consider them- 
selves personally attacked, even in this, and iden- 
tifying themselves with the cause they had 
espoused and which he denounced, should feel in 
themselves the blows aimed at it, was not sur- 
prising. Bitter personal enmities were the result. 
His family were often filled with the deepest anx- 
iety on his account, when public duty called him 
from home, and if his stay was prolonged into the 
night were sometimes fearful that even his life 
might be endangered. On one occasion, entering 
the door-yard of a violent Mason, he found him 
engaged in cutting wood, and as he approached 
was threatened with the uplifted axe. A steady 
look in the angry man's eye, and a sharp word of 
stern reproof, were sufficient to quell the spirit 
of murder which the passion of the moment had 
roused. 

The controversy even found its way into the 
churches, especially into that at Fort Ann. There 
were Masons among its members, and one of them. 



100 NATHANIEL COLYEE. 

a prominent man in tlie Order, formally charged 
the pastor with falsehood and deceit, in having 
renounced Masonry, and having also spoken of it 
in such terms of public condemnation. Mr. Colvei 
demanded that there should be an investigation ; 
a result which the accuser ought to have antici- 
pated, yet which, when the pinch came, he found 
himself unprepared to meet. Of course, to prove 
upon the pastor what had been charged, it was 
necessary to show that his statements regarding 
the character of Masonry were not true. The 
only way to do this — to show what Masonry is 
not^ was to show upon the contrary what Masonry 
is. Could this be done without disclosing secrets ? 
The meeting called for the investigation of the 
charge was largely attended from all parts of the 
county. Mr. Colver took his seat with the mem- 
bers, waiving his privilege of presiding as pastor 
of the church, and the chair was filled by another. 
All things being ready the accuser was called 
upon to make good his charges by bringing forward 
testimony. His answer was that he could not do 
this without betraying secrets of the Order. 
Upon this the church, holding the charges as 
totally unproved, were about to pronounce the 
pastor innocent of blame, when he, rising from 



NEW FIELDS AND NEW LABOES. 101 

his seat, where up to this point he had remained 
perfectly quiet, came forward so as to face the 
audience, and requested to be allowed to prove 
affirmatively all that he had said of Masonry. 
Permission being given, he called upon five ven- 
erable members of the church who were also, or 
had been, members of the Masonic fraternity, and 
required them to say, on their honor and con- 
science as Christian men, whether what they had 
heard from his lips as to Masonry, its character and 
tendency, was or was not true. For one of these 
brethren, in particular, it was a cruel ordeal, yet 
he with the rest sustained the pastor and declared 
that the truth of the allegations he had publicly 
made could not be denied. 

At the close, Mr. Colver summed up the whole 
case in a masterly speech, in which the Order and 
its supporters were so set in the light of Christian 
principles and common justice as to leave but one 
possible conclusion. Not only was the pastor fully 
exonerated, but the accusing member was excluded 
for bringing a false charge. The effect in the 
community and in the towns about was something 
tremendous. The two towns of Kingsbury and 
Fort Ann became overwhelmingly Antimasonic 
from that time. This event, occurring soon after 



102 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

Mr. Colver's settlement upon his new field, 
seemed to make him widely known in his capacity 
as a champion of reform, and from that point on 
calls to address conventions, mass-meetings, and 
similar gatherings, were almost constant. 

Mr. Colver's pastoral relations with the two 
churches we have named were not long continued, 
and by the causes to which we have referred suf- 
fered, even during that brief time, some degree 
of disturbance. He removed to Kingsbury in 1829. 
Soon after his health began to fail, and many 
fears on his account were felt by his family and 
friends. For the sake of relief and change, he 
visited Philadelphia some time in the year just 
named, taking Poughkeepsie on his way, where 
he made some stay, preaching there with signal 
acceptance, and so as to create a strong desire to 
secure him permanently as a minister in that 
place. We have had from one, not a member of 
Mr. Colver's denomination, graphic descriptions 
of the impression there made by him : of the 
curiosity excited as the stranger in his rustic garb, 
but with a form and face so striking, ascended 
the pulpit ; of the eager listeners which his first 
sermon had, and the crowds which from that 
time forward flocked to his meetings. The Bap- 



NEW FIELDS AND NEW LABORS. 103 

list meeting-house being much too small for those 
who came to hear, that of another denomination 
was offered and accepted, till a faithful sermon on 
Baptism closed its doors against him. 

In Philadelphia Mr. Colver became acquainted 
with Dr. Brantly, then a pastor in that city. Of 
the intimacy that followed, another, more com- 
petent than ourselves, will speak in the next 
chapter. We will only say here, that this visit 
resulted in his engagement to assist Dr. Brantly 
in a protracted meeting, in which his power as a 
preacher was impressed upon the people of Phila- 
delphia in a way never to be forgotten afterward 
by those who heard him ; what is far more, the 
hand of God was with him, and many were added 
to the church of such as are saved. 



104 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 



CHAPTER VI. 



PHILADELPHIA —HOLME SB UPG^ UNION- 
VILLA GE. — 1831 - 1839. 

" Your request," writes Dr. W. T. Brantly, 
now of Baltimore, " for such reminiscences as now 
occur to me in connection with the late Dr. 
Colver and my father, carries me back to a coh^ 
versation which I heard in the year 1829. Ad- 
dressing some members of the church who, at the 
time, were visiting at his house, my father said to 
them, ' You must by no means allow that brother 
to leave us. His aid, at this time, is invaluable. 
If necessary our members must go to him in a 
body, and insist on his preaching again.' On 
inquiring, I learned that the brother referred to 
was a stranger who had that day providentially 
come into the First Baptist Church, Philadelphia, 
Where my father was conducting a protracted 
meeting. Having been introduced as a Baptist 



WIDENING SPHERES. 105 

minister, he was invited to occupy the pulpit. It 
was thought he would preach an ordinary sermon 
on some gospel topic, and then resume his journey 
homeward. No one present had ever heard him 
preach, nor indeed was he known to any one 
present, save the person introducing him, to 
whom, perhaps, he had brought a letter. He had 
been preaching but a very few minutes before my 
father, than whom no man was quicker to appre- 
ciate talent, or more candid in commending it, 
discovered that the stranger was a man of no 
common power in the pulpit. As he progressed 
the impression was deepened ; and by the time he 
had concluded his discourse, pastor and people were 
bathed in tears, and made haste to thank the 
Lord for sending such a preacher among them. 
This stranger was the Rev. Nathaniel Colver. 
From that moment my father took him to his 
heart, and their friendship and intimacy continued 
unabated up to my father's decease, in 18^5. 

" On the occasion to which I refer, the circum- 
stances were all such as to invest the preacher 
with peculiar interest. The church was in the 
midst of an extensive work of grace. Christians 
were enjoying a time of refreshing, and sinners 
in large numbers had been awakened or con- 



106 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

verted. The people were in a frame of mind to 
appreciate tlie gospel. Then, too, Mr. Colver 
was in a fervent spiritual state. He was laboring 
under some disease of a pulmonic nature, if I 
remember aright, which he was advised by his 
physician might at any moment terminate his life. 
He preached, literally, as though each sermon 
might be his last. With feeling heart and tearful 
eye, he exhorted sinners to repair to the refuge 
where he himself found such blessed security. 
Speaking like a man who expected to go from the 
pulpit to account to his Master for the manner in 
which he had acquitted himself, his appeals 
teached to the hardest heart, and brought to pro- 
found concern many who had for years resisted 
the ordinary calls of the sanctuary. Yielding to 
the importunities of his brethren, he continued to 
preach throughout the meeting, and when he left 
the city there was at least one congregatiou 
tinaninious in their praises of his abihty and zeal 
as a servant of Jesus. 

" For months after he left the city and returned 
to his humble parish in Washington county. New 
York, my father took great pleasure in entertain- 
ing his ministerial guests with an account of the 
preaching of the remarkable visitor, who had 



WIDENING SPHERES. 107 

recently appeared among them unheralded and 
unexpected. Though but a boy of a dozen years 
of age, I well remember how my father repeated 
the illustrations, so original, striking and apt, of 
gospel truth with which the sermons of his new 
friend abounded, and in what glowing terms he 
would eulogize his fine endowments. ' There were 
violations of grammar,' he would say, 'and sundry 
rhetorical improprieties, faults of style and 
faults of pronunciation; but the genius and 
unction which marked the discourses quite over- 
shadowed and obscured any deficiency in the 
vehicle by which the thoughts were conveyed.' 
You will appreciate this commendation when I 
tell you that, as a preacher, theologian and 
scholar, my father stood in the very front rank of 
his contemporaries. He was, moreover, a very 
severe critic. It was quite unusual for him to 
express himself very warmly in commendation of 
the preaching which he had heard. He could, 
generally see how the sermon might have been 
so much better than it was, that his animadver- 
sions were more frequent than his praises. When 
he eulogized, you might be sure that there was 
real merit. 

'* In the autumn of 1831, the First Baptist Church, 



108 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

Philadelphia, determined to hold a series of meet- 
ings. Amongst the ministers invited to participate 
was Mr. Colver. The impressions of his former 
preaching were still fresh in the minds of- the peo- 
ple, and great expectations were indulged from 
his second Tisit. So far as I can remember, at this 
remote interval, the expectations created by the 
first visit were fully sustained. I have before me 
the Christian Index of October 29, 1831, of which 
my father was editor at the time, and in a notice 
of the meeting from his pen, I find these words : 
' On Sunday evening the crowd was beyond all 
example in our place of worship. After all the 
seats above and below in our spacious house had 
been filled, the aisles were supplied with benches, 
until no more could be introduced ; and the whole 
space was literally crowded. In this situation they 
remained until ten o'clock at night without mani- 
festing the least impatience. The congregation 
was dismissed, with the view of making room 
for the inquirers to come forward and occupy the 
front seats ; but though dispersed, the people ap- 
peared unwilling to leave the house, and conse- 
quently the greater portion of them remained, 
whilst mourners to the number of about one hun- 
dred came forward.' 



WIDENING SPHERES. 109 

"The preacher, on this remarkable occasion, 
was Mr. Colver. The account before me states 
that ' his lips appeared to be touched as with a live 
coal from the altar, and he spoke for God in a 
manner which commended itself to every con- 
science.' During the meeting, he was a guest at 
iny father's, remaining some two or three weeks 
with the family. Though very young, I was old 
enough to be moved by his preaching ; and now, 
at the lapse of forty years, I remember when he 
closed his discourse on the Sunday evening to 
which my father has referred, what a profound 
solemnity pervaded the entire congregation as he 
repeated the last words of the sermon, ' Even so, 
come Lord Jesus, come quickly.' 

" On the morning of the same Sabbath a dis- 
course of wonderful power from the words, 
' Search the Scriptures,' had been preached by the 
Rev. John Finley, of Baltimore, pastor at the time 
of the First Baptist Church in that city. When 
Mr. Colver was in the pulpit in the evening, a 
young friend sitting near me, who had never heard 
him, expressed regret that Mr. Finley was not 
called on to speak again. ' Wait,' said L ' You 
will hear a better sermon than you heard this 
morning.' ' Impossible,' said my friend. But 



110 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

when Mr. Colver had concluded, he turned to me 
saying, ' He is great ! ' 

" Whilst a guest under my father's roof, there 
was the most intimate intercourse between Mr. 
Colver and him. In many respects the two men 
were, strikingly dissimilar. My father was a stu- 
dent, a ripe scholar, with a taste fashioned on the 
purest classical model, elegant in his diction, 
dignified in his delivery. He was, moreover, a 
Southern man, having resided nearly all his life 
in the Southern States, and with all his prepos- 
sessions in favor of the dominant customs and 
institutions of that section of the country. Mr. 
Colver, on the other hand, was thoroughly North- 
ern, by birth and by predilection. He had enjoyed 
but scanty advantages in the way of education. 
His knowledge, so far as books could supply it, was 
Very meagre. Apart from the Bible, he would 
have been considered a very untutored man. His 
taste was crude, and his thoughts were sometimes 
clothed in a garb which did not commend them to 
polite ears. But notwithstanding these differences, 
the two were drawn into the most fraternal inter- 
course. They had two points in common ; both 
were men of genius smd piety. My father delighted 
in the rich imagination of his guest, united as it 



WIDENING SPHERES. Ill 

was to reasoning powers of such a high order that 
he was a powerful logician without ever haying 
read a chapter in the logic of the schools. On the 
other hand, the guest drank in with dehght the 
discourse of one whom he cheerfully conceded to 
be competent to give him instruction on many- 
topics of the greatest importance. Then both 
were men truly consecrated to Jesus, and each 
rejoiced to find such talents as the other possessed 
cordially devoted to the cause which they both 
loved. 

"Some time after this second visit to Philadel- 
phia, the Baptist church at Holmesburg, a small 
village some ten miles distant from the city, need- 
ing a pastor, my father, anxious to have Mr. 
Colver near him, suggested his name for the posi- 
tion. He was called. The church extending the 
invitation was small and feeble, and could offer 
but a very inadequate salary. My father, how- 
ever, induced members of his own church to con- 
tribute, and a sufficient salary having been pro- 
vided, Mr. Colver took charge of the church in 
Holmesburg. Here he labored for several months, 
preaching frequently in Philadelphia, and often 
being a guest at my father's. It was while a pas- 
tor here, m 1834, that an incident occurred which 



112 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

gave me ever afterwards a tender feeling towards 
Mr. Colver. During a protracted meeting which 
was in progress, after I, a thoughtless sinner, had 
resisted all the invitations to go forward for prayer, 
he came down the aisle to the pew in which I 
was standing and said to me, in the most earnest 
manner, ' William, come up here and let us pray 
for you.' ' Not yet,' I replied. ' Yes,' he said, 
' come now^'' and taking my arm he led me to the 
pews occupied by the anxious. I went, and was 
overcome by my emotions, and a few days after- 
wards indulged the hope that I was a Christian. 
Years have passed, in which we have had no inter- 
course whatever with each other. The red lines 
of internecine strife separated us for a time ; but 
I have never forgotten the debt of gratitude I 
owe to the man of God who on that memorable 
night said to me, ' Come now ! ' 

" I was now at an age to appreciate for my- 
self the genius and piety of Mr. Colver. I shall 
never forget a temperance speech which about 
this time he delivered in hig own church in 
Holmesburg. He did not expect to speak, on the 
occasion referred to. An Episcopal minister, and 
a lad who had recently been baptized, were the 
invited speakers, and this, it was thought, would 



WIDENING SPHERES. 113 

furnish suf&cient entertainment for the evening. 
But after these had concluded, Mr. Colver sprang 
to his feet and delivered an address, wholly unpre- 
meditated, and yet of such wonderful power that 
the impression remains with me after the lapse ot 
nearly forty years, and after I have heard the best 
temperance orators in the land, from John B. 
Gough to the humblest advocate of the cause. 
During his settlement at Holmesburg, I said one 
day to Mr. Geo. Holme, father of Rev. Dr. Stan- 
ford Holme, and one of Mr. Colver's most intelli- 
gent hearers, ' How is your preacher doing ? ' 
' Better and better,' was the reply. ' He has just 
been preaching a number of most interesting ser- 
mons from the same text. Having finished on 
Sunday before the last, he said last Sunday that he 
would gather up the fragments, and this sermon 
of fragments was the most wonderful of the 
whole.' 

" Late in the year 1834, Mr. Colver left the 
neighborhood of Philadelphia; and in 1837 my 
father's health requiring a warmer climate, he 
removed to Charleston, S. C. From this time 
these two friends saw but little of each other, 
though a correspondence more or less regular 
continued until my father's death. 



1X4 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

" I have thus endeavored to record a few inci- 
dents connected with Mr. Colver's history in and 
about Philadelphia. My father's admiration for 
his talents and piety was such that he took pleas- 
ure in eulogizing him on every occasion when his 
name was mentioned. Some time before my 
father's death, and after he had removed to 
Charleston, Mr. Colver wrote him an earnest let- 
ter, insisting that the relation of master and slave 
was in itself sinful. My father dissented entirely 
from his opinions on this subject. But their 
friendly understanding was not interrupted. In 
one of his letters, written at that time, Mr. Col- 
ver said to my father, ' Though we differ so widely 
on this subject, do not suppose that I have cast 
you out of my affections. God gave you a place 
in my heart, and I must ever love you.' I quote 
from memory, but this is the substance of the ex- 
pression. And I may say, in all that I have writ- 
ten I have been obliged to depend on the recollec- 
tions of some two-score of years, and in some 
unimportant details I may not be very accurate. 
You have, however, my best recollections, and if 
they add anything to the interest of the mem- 
ories which you are collecting of one who, with 
gome faihngs, was an eminent and devoted servant 



WIDENING SPHERES. IW 

of Christ, I shall rejoice. As I write, the com- 
manding forms of these two men of God rise 
before me. They were both physically cast in 
nature's finest mould ; and though the noble cask- 
ets have perished, it is sweet to think of the nobler 
gems, now shining among those who turn many to 
righteousness." 

The intimacy between Mr. Colver and Dr. 
Brantly was of a character so interesting and so 
suggestive, that we are disposed to dwell a little 
longer upon some of its features. The following 
incident among others may be related: While 
residing in Holmesburg, Mr. Colver spent a night 
with Dr. Brantly at his home in Philadelphia. 
Some passage of Scripture being discussed between 
them, they differed as to the interpretation. Dr. 
Brantly giving a more literal and Mr. Colver a 
more general sense to the words. They parted 
in the morning, Mr. Colver returning to Holmes- 
burg. About noon, to his great surprise, he saw 
Dr. Brantly driving up to his door. As Mr. Col- 
ver hastened out to see what could be the matter, 
Dr. Brantly exclaimed ; " Brother Colver, I was 
wrong about that passage ; you were right. I 
have been looking at it again." Mr. Colver 
used to quote this incident as illustrating the 



116 NATHANIEL COLYER. 

great nobleness of cliaracter for which, as well as 
for the gifts of genius, his friend was so eminent. 
Convinced of error, he could not rest till, though 
at the cost of a ride of ten miles, he had set the 
matter right. 

Mention is made in the interesting reminiscen- 
ces copied above, of a letter sent hj Mr. Colver to 
Dr. Brantlj, after the latter had become pastor 
of the Baptist Church in Charleston, South Caro- 
lina. We may anticipate both dates and events 
so far as to give portions of this letter here, as it 
seems naturally to belong in this connection. The 
letter is dated at Greenwich, JST. Y., Dec. 6. 1837. 

My Dear Brother Brantly : In looking over the Gospel Wit- 
ness, to-night, I was reminded of the debt I owe you, by reading a 
notice that you had accepted a call from Charleston, S. C. Pardon 
me, my dear brother, for neglecting you so long. It has been 
owing to a constant pressure of other calls ; and what to write now, 
I hardly know. I will not return your intimation of casting you 
out of my fellowship. I could' not get you out of my heart if I 
should try. I believe that God gave you a place, there. My heart 
even now melts, when I think of past scenes. It is not meet that 
I, your inferior, should attempt to dictate ; but I will consecrate 
myself in an entreaty of lov^, " though I be less loved." 

The announcement that you are going to Charleston distresses 
me much. Had I known it in time, nothing would have prevented 
me from visiting you. I fear you are not aware of the present 
state of things. Is it not possible, my dear brother, that your early 
habits and Southern partialities may have pi-evented you from 
examining the subject of slavery in its tendency, bearings, and 
prospectSy with your accustomed sagacity ? I know your good heart 



WIDENING SPHERES. 117 

and shrewd understanding (I do not flatter) will one day break 
off old fetters, and you will look upon things as they are. I 
remember a remark of yours, that the Bible justifies slaveiy. But 
can you, dear sir, use the prescribed and guarded servitude of 
Moses, as a cloak for Southern slavery ? Southern slavery is con- 
stituted and defined by statute, and is little more analogous to Mo- 
saic servitude than the servitude of Christ to the church. Do read 
the slave laws of South Carolina, and ask yourself, as in the 
presence of him before whose altar you have sworn to teach all 
the truth, and rebuke all sin, if you can go and minister to a 
church who support such a system of outrage, such an attempt at 
the annihilation of God's image in the person of the doomed slave. 
I know not that any member of the church will treat his slave 
as by law he is permitted to do, but he who quietly holds a slave 
under the laws of South Carolina, is guilty of sustaining a system 
of iniquity, of sustaining a system of law which puts it in the 
power of any slave-holder to despoil all the ties of consanguinity, 
the virtue, and even the life, of his slave, fvith impunity. Pause, 
my dear brother, do pause, and look at it apart from earthly con- 
siderations, before you take the step, lest having taken it you 
awake to most unhappy results. 

The letter closes thus : 

I cannot say what I wish in this brief letter, but I speak as unto 
a wise man, judge ye. I have said enough, if you will stop and 
think, not superficially. God will, one day, commission this subject 
to your closest thoughts. May he do it now, while the humble- 
ness of the instrument will secure the glory to his own name. I 
impart not this only, to you, but " my own soul with it." 

Mr. Colver remained in Holnresburg only a 
portion of the year 1834, preaching his first sermon 
there on the 18th of May in that year. Under 
date of Nov. 16th in the same year, we find the 
following, which indicates that after some six; 



118 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

months the relation of pastor was dissolved by his 
desire ; not however, without having even in that 
brief time bound his flock to him in strong affec- 
tion : 

The Rev. Nathaniel Colver having solicited a dismission from 
the pastoral care which he has for some time exercised over us, 
we have, reluctantly, complied with his request. Our attachment 
to him has increased with our knowledge of his character. We 
consider him an aimable man and devoted Christian ; and, what 
is more important, a faithful and able minister of the New Testa-^ 
ment. Much have we been instructed and comforted under his 
ministrations. The Lord has, we trust, made him instrumental 
of building us up in our most holy faith, and of adding to us a 
goodly number of such as shall be saved. 

During brother Colver's connection with this people, his labors 
have been abundant in sister churches in Philadelphia and the 
vicinity, among whom his personal worth, and his might in the 
Scriptures, will not soon be forgotten. We assure our brethren of 
other churches that we are deeply grieved at the necessity imposed 
upon us of parting with a man and minister whom we so sincerely 
esteem and love ; but it shall console us to reflect that his many 
talents and glowing zeal are to be exercised in a more enlarged 
sphere than that which is presented by our infant church and 
limited congregation. 

Among the pleasing incidents connected with 
this pastorate at Holmesburg was the baptism of 
Mr. Colver's third son, Charles K. Colver, which 
occurred August 24, 1834. We may take this oppor- 
tunity to mention that to the three sons of whose 
birth we have already spoken, two others had 
now been added ; Hiram Wallace Colver, born at 
Fort Covington, Aug. 18, 1826, and William 
Nathaniel Colver, at the same place, March 17, 
1829. A daughter, Sarah Colver, of whose early 



WIDEKIN-G SPHERES. 119 

and lamented deatli we shall have occasion to speak 
further on, was born in Kingsbury, March 24, 1833. 
For the sake of putting these events in their 
proper connection with Dr. Brantly's sketch, we 
have anticipated various matters important to our 
narrative, and to these we must now return. We 
have already spoken of Mr. Colver's active zeal in 
the cause of Antimasonry. He was scarcely less 
conspicuous in his earnest participation in another 
great movement, whose vital moment to social 
and individual welfare, and to the cause of religion 
as well, he profoundly felt. Mr. Colver must have 
been among the first to engage in the temperance 
movement, which is that to which we refer. While 
still at Fort Covington, he had already become 
known as among the most active advocates of this 
branch of reform. "His articles in the news- 
papers," says Judge Culver, "and his public 
addresses, aroused the attention of individuals and. 
churches to the subject. During his sojourn in 
Kingsbury, numerous and large societies were 
formed under his labors. His bold and manly 
denunciation of the use of and traffic in intoxica- 
ting drinks early drew upon his head the curses 
of the drinkers and sellers. Few men of his day 
were ever so roundly abused in bar-rooms as 



120 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

Nathaniel Colver." Called in many directions to 
preach on special occasions, he often availed him- 
self of opportunities thus afforded for introducing 
this other subject to the attention of those whom 
his sermons had already roused and interested. 
It was upon such an occasion that the writer of 
these pages first saw and heard Nathaniel Colver 
— at the dedication of the Baptist house of worship 
in Ticonderoga, New York. Mr. Colver preached 
the sermon of dedication in the morning ; in the 
evening delivered a lecture upon temperance. Both 
alike left impressions which remained long after. 
The cause of temperance, especially, received from 
his visit an impulse which in that place it much 
needed, and which sent it forward on its course, 
with vigor greatly enhanced. An incident con- 
nected with another more notable occasion, we 
give in Judge Culver's words: 

" It was during the temperance agitation that 
he was sent as a delegate to the New York State 
Temperance Convention. The great question of 
the Convent'ion was the Old or the New Pledge. 
The former pledged abstinence from distilled 
spirits^ the latter from wine, ale, and cider, as well. 
The wine-bibber could go the former, but con- 
demned the latter. The Convention was at 



WIDENIKG SPHERES. 121 

Albany. Dr. Welch was then in his prime. He had 
influential wine-drinkers in his church, and per- 
ceiving that the Convention was terribly in earn- 
est, and that the Total-abstinence men were evi- 
dently in the majority, and were putting upon 
their passage strong total-abstinence resolutions, 
he came forward as a peace-maker, as he said, ' with 
the olive-branch of peace.' He asked to supple- 
ment the resolutions with a proviso, to the effect 
that ' the Convention nevertheless adhered to the 
old pledge.' He made a most eloquent speech in 
support of his amendment, as Dr. Welch knew 
how to do. ' Colver ' was loudly called for by the 
Convention, to reply. He did so, in one of liis 
happiest veins, and with telling effect. Being of 
the same profession and denomination with Welch, 
he dealt the more freely with him and his ' olive- 
branch.' The strong point made by the Total- 
abstinence men was that sorrowful experience had 
shown that the old pledge was too weak. It did 
not save ; men took it, and died drunkards. 

" ' Now,' said Colver, ' suppose a small colony 
of settlers go out and locate in a new country. 
They clear a patch, enclose it for their cattle and 
sheep, and to make it safe for the time being, they 
hedge it with a brush-fence. After a few years, 



122 NATHANIEL COLYER. 

they find that the old fence do n't secure their 
cattle, or protect the enclosure. Every now and 
then a lamb or a calf escapes and is lost. They 
call a meeting, resolve that they must have a new 
fence, of new material, higher and stouter built. 
But one farmer objects to the new resolutions, 
unless they also resolve, at the same time, to stick 
to the old hrush'fenceJ* 

" The hit was most effectual, and brought down 
the house with tremendous cheers. Dr. Welch's 
amendment was annihilated, and the Total-absti- 
nence men carried everything before them. For 
long years, 'Colver's old brush-fence,' and 
' Welch's olive-branch ' were topics of rich com- 
ment." 

During these years of active occupation in vari- 
ous departments of reform, Mr. Colver's more 
directly ministerial labors were a good deal dis- 
tributed. During the year 1829 he was engaged 
quite constantly as pastor of the churches in. Kings- 
bury and Fort Ann. The year 1830 was devoted 
largely, in connection with the same pastorate, to 
lecturing against Masonry. A part of 1831, was 
given to the church in Greenwich, at Union Vil- 
lage, where the pastor, Rev. Edward Barber, an 
old man, and having already served that church 



WIDENING SPHERES. 123 

as its pastor for the long period of forty years, 
gladly welcomed him as an associate laborer. In 
1832 and 1833 he still divided his time between 
the churches we have named, residing during the 
latter year at Kingsbury — save that some time 
in each was spent in journeys southward, in one 
of which he visited Baltimore and Richmond, and 
in another aided Dr. Brantly, of Philadelphia, in a 
protracted meeting. Six months of 1834, as already 
related, he spent in Holmesburg, Penn. In the 
summer of 1834, upon the death of Elder Barber, 
the church at Union Village at once applied to 
Mr. Colver, addressing him in an urgent call to 
become its pastor. With this, in the fall of that 
year, he complied, and remained as pastor of that 
church until 1838. 

We pass lightly over these dates, as most of the 
events connected with each have already been 
noticed in detail. The pastorate at Union Village, 
however, we must note more particularly as one 
of the most remarkable periods in Mr. Colver's 
ministry. It was about the time at which he 
entered upon this pastorate that, while upon a 
visit South, his attention was in a more especial 
manner directed to the subject of American sla- 
very. An incident which occured at Washington 



124 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

was afterwards spoken of by himself, as having 
contributed in a large degree to this result. 
" When," he says, " I saw an old man, with gray 
hair and tottering limbs, going down Pennsylva- 
nia avenue, hobbling upon his crutches as fast as 
he could, weeping and lamenting, trying to catch 
a glimpse of his lost child, sold to the soul-drivers, 
and now bound for the rice-swamps of the South, 
and saying, ' They promised me he should never 
be taken from me, but they 've sold him, and I 
shall never see him again ! ' — I could stand it no 
longer, I hated a system which thus rioted in 
blood and in broken hearts." A letter from Dr. 
Brantly had strongly commended him to the Bap- 
tist church in Eichmond, and the impression 
received by the church from his visit was highly 
favorable. It is probable that a settlement there, 
as pastor, would have resulted, if his convictions 
upon the subject of slavery had not interposed. 

At Union Village, although often interupted by 
calls to address public gatherings of all kinds upon 
topics of reform, his labors as pastor and preacher 
were still abundant and fruitful. It was a pastor- 
ate marked by those elements which character- 
ized his ministry in his best days. Strongly doc- 
trinal yet vividly practical and telling, earnest 



WIDENING SPHEEES. 125 

and unsparing, yet tender and pleading, his 
preaching, while it drew about him a throng of 
intelligent hearers, was effectual in conversions to 
an extraordinary degree. During the two years 
previous to Elder Barber's death and his own final 
settlement, he had given a good deal of his time 
to labor in the church. Mainly as the result of 
these labors three hundred were, during those two 
years, baptized in the church. In the four years 
of his settled pastorate, he baptized three hundred 
and ninety ; making for the whole period of six 
years no less a number than six hundred and 
ninety. , It is certainly remarkable that, occupied 
as he was in reform, and continually called into 
service in that relation, he still could hold himself 
with such steadiness to the proper work of his 
ministry, and could prosecute it in such a spirit 
and manner as to secure results like these. 

The circumstances which led to Mr. Colver's 
removal to Boston will be recited in the next 
chapter. Nor can we dwell longer, here, upon 
the history of this pastorate at Union Village. It 
cost the church a severe struggle to surrender him 
to the larger field to which the Boston call sum- 
moned him. "His last communion season with 
them," says Judge Culver in his interesting notes 



126 KATHANIEL COLVEE. 

to whicli we are already so much, indebted, " was 
long remembered. The choir sang, at the close of 
his farewell sermon, the sweet, sympathetic words, 

* Enemies no more shall trouble, 
All thy wrongs shall be redressed.' 

" ' With exceeding great desire,' said he, as he 
broke the bread, ' have I desired to eat this pass- 
over with you.' The senior deacon, Comfort Bar- 
ber, eighty years of age, bade him farewell in 
behalf of the church. ' Go ' said he, ' be faithful 
there as you have been here ; preach there, ^s you 
have here, the truth, and the whole truth, and 
God bless you there, as he has blessed you here.' " 



TEEMONT TEMPLE PASTOEATE. 127 



CHAPTER VII. 



TREMONT TEMPLE PASTOR A TE,-'iZ'i^i'6^2, 

The event mentioned at the close of the last 
chapter took place in 1839. The year 1838 had 
been spent by Mr. Colver in the service of 
the American Antislavery Society, without, how- 
ever, dissolving his pastoral relations with the 
church at Union Village. Mr. Colver, while labor- 
ing under the appointment of the Society, lectured 
much of the time in New England. It was at 
that period of the antislavery agitation when 
"mob-law" was in full force. A more violent 
excitation of popular passion in its worst guise is 
perhaps nowhere recorded in the history of re- 
form. Those principles of toleration, that re- 
cognition of the rights of free speech, so vital in 
American institutions, were for the time almost 
■wholly set aside. Those who should have pro- 
tected these immunities, were, either themselves 



128 NATHANIEL COLYEE. 

carried away by the passion of the hour, or were 
unwilling to venture upon meeting with rebuke 
and repression those outbursts of popular violence, 
often taking the form of mere brute force, whose 
aspects were so threatening. If in more cultivated 
communities the mob was in some degree held at 
bay, even there the same spirit was manifested in 
other forms, while in not a few places opposition 
became riot and vented itself in outrage. 

Mr. Colver, during this year of service in the 
Antislavery cause under appointment of the Na- 
tional Society, had full experience of each form of 
opposition. We have before us accounts of riotous 
proceedings in Connecticut, which went so far, 
in one place, as to end in the blowing up of the 
Baptist house of worship, there, with gunpowder. 
The disturbance of a meeting by the inroad of 
rude fellows of the baser sort, was a common 
occurrence, and if these satisfied themselves with 
simply abusing the lecturer or breaking the win- 
dows of the house with stones, it was thought for- 
tunate. Mr. Colver bore himself amidst these 
scenes with characteristic steadiness; always 
maintaining his dignity, and often quelling riotous 
proceedings through the mere ascendancy of his 
strong will and unblenching courage. Such inci- 



TREMONT TEMPLE PASTORATE. 129 

dents were compensated, at times, by finding him- 
self, as on one occasion at Norwalk, surrounded 
by his own brethren, who would hear him with at- 
tention and candor, and when convinced enroll 
themselves with the friends of emancipation. In 
connection with his lectures he formed numerous 
antislavery societies, leaving thus in many places 
organized and permanent proofs that his work was 
not in vain. 

It was in the course of these lecturing tours that 
Mr. Colver became acquainted with the brethren 
in Boston with whom he was afterwards so closely 
associated ; especially with Timothy Gilbert. " In 
1838," writes Dr. J. D. Fulton, " Mr. Colver was 
in Connecticut lecturing. He had been mobbed 
and vilified, but he had triumphed gloriously. 
Flushed with victory, he came to Boston and 
spoke at the Capitol and at Marlboro Chapel. 
There Timothy Gilbert saw him. Jonathan had 
found his David. As in water face answereth to 
face, so the heart of this man warmed to the 
heart of Timothy Gilbert, ' the grandest abolition- 
ist in Boston.' He was at this time forty-two 
years of age. His power of mind was fully devel- 
oped. He was a bold talker, had a vivid imagi- 
nation, and called things by their right names. 



130 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

Timothy Gilbert no sooner saw Mm, than he beheld 
a standard-bearer. An agreement was made that 
if the brethren in Boston would procure a place 
of worship and organize a church opposed to secret 
organizations, intemperance and slavery, and in 
favor of free seats, he would become their pastor." 
Letters from Dea. Gilbert, written to Mr. Colver 
after his return to Greenwich, his engagement 
with the society having expired, indicate the 
form which the plans of those brethren to whom 
Dr. Fulton refers, first assumed. Thus, under 
date of Sept. 29, 1838, he writes ; 

The friends of a Free Baptist Church, not feeling sufficient 
strength to proceed and form a church, have nearly unanimously 
agreed to procure preaching for three months, if your services can 
be had, and in that time they hope to see what strength can be 
called out, and if sufficient, to then form a church. The hall 
intended is one opposite the Savings Bank in Tremont Street, 
which w'ill accommodate from four to five hundred persons, having 
a high, arched ceiling, and being already seated with settees^ We 
are liable to lose that hall, unless we engage it immediately, it 
having been occupied on the Sabbath, and only vacated on the 
last Sabbath. We are very desirous to procure your services for 
the time mentioned, and hope afterward to be able to form a 
church with favorable prospects. 

The next letter from Dea. Gilbert, dated Oct. 
10th, indicates that Mr. Colver had objected to a 
removal to Boston under the arrangement pro- 
posed. He thought that a church should first be 
organized, and that if he went to Boston at all, he 
should go, not as a supply, at the mercy of con- 



TKEMONT TEIMPLE PASTORATE. 131 

tingencies, but as a pastor. A subsequent visit to 
that city, Boston, for how long a time does not 
appear, resulted in so strengthening and uniting 
the elements of the movement already begun as 
in the following spring to result in an organization. 
April 3, 1839, Dea. Gilbert writes: 

I embrace a moment from my multiplied cares to say that last 
evening our request for a dismission from the Federal Street church 
was presented, and granted without a dissenting voice. As to the 
other churches, I have not heard the result, but presume it is the 
same at Mr. Stow's. We also requested delegates for a council, 
to meet at our place on Thursday, i8th inst., which was granted. 
We had before agreed to have the time three weeks from this day, 
but recollected that that was the week when the Convention would 
sit in Philadelphia ; so we altered to the above time. 

The letter speaks of one who " had experienced 
religion " under Mr. Colver's preaching during 
his recent visit, and urges this as an encourage- 
ment to believe that " the Lord had not left 
(him) without a seal in Boston." Letters dated 
May 18th, and June 29th, urge Mr. Colver's speedy 
settlement as of vital importance to the infant 
church. To the last of these Mr. Colver replies ; 
*'I wrote you last from Newburg, where I was 
confined to my bed from Tuesday till yesterday, 
when the doctor permitted me to be dressed, and 
brought part of the way home. I reached home 
this morning, just in time to preach, and to my 
astonishment have been able to do so with great 



132 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

comfort of mind, tliougli with great labor of body. 
Since coming borne I have learned more definitely 
tbe action of the cburcb on my request for a dis- 
mission. Everything works most favorably. 
Though all seem afflicted, yet they have complied 
with my request, in great kindness and love. 
They will let me go, with their warmest blessing. 
I wish you could have been at the meeting to-day, 
and seen the spirit which prevailed. You would 
wonder how I could ever leave such a people ; 
and indeed I wonder, myself. One old brother, 
when he took me by the hand, that morning, wept, 
while he said, ' Brother Colver, you will never 
find such friends in Boston as you leave in Green- 
wich.' Another, when he took my hand, said 
with a quivering Hp, ' It 's dark and hard ; but if 
you must go, God bless you.' " 

Mr. Colver entered upon his pastorate in Boston, 
in the fall of 1839. "He was installed," says 
Dr. Fulton, " pastor of the Free Baptist Church, 
which for three months met in a room in Tremont 
Row, afterwards in Congress Hall, then under the 
Museum building, corner of Bromfield and Tre- 
mont Streets, until the Tremont Temple was ded- 
icated December 7, 1843. The Boston 'Daily 
Mail,' in speaking of the pastor said, 'Mr. Col- 



TREMONT TEMPLE PASTOEATE. 133 

ver carries a very brier in his hand, and sinners 
must look out, or they will be touched in tender 
places. He is no time-server. He preaches for 
eternity. There is no half-work about him. He 
cries aloud, and spares not.' 

" Look in," adds Dr. Fulton, "on the congrega- 
tion. It has a wild appearance. Excitement is 
in the air, slaves have clanked their chains through 
State Street, and ministers are dumb. Men want 
vent for their hearts, for thought burns within 
them. It is popular to denounce such acts, and 
charge them to Christianity. It is brave to de- 
nounce them, and claim for Christianity all that 
makes them infamous. Mr. Colver is brave ; he 
is true to Christ, and true to man. 

" Free seats hinder rather than help him. They 
exclude a great many who would come, could they 
sit with their families and enjoy a hymn-book. 
The pastor, looking over his congregation, might 
say with Paul, ' For ye see your calling, brethren, 
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not 
many mighty, not many noble are called.' It is 
beautiful in theory to have all things in common, 
not in practice. 'Mine ' and 'thine ' are facts to 
which men cling tenaciously. View Mr. Colver's 
work from the stand-point of a large congregation, 



1S4 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

eager to listen, who love the word, and are ready 
to stand for it, let what will come, and there is no 
grander place. View it from the other side, see 
the pittance given for the support of the Gospel 
by the poor, behold the narrowness that charac- 
terizes the small men by whom the majority of the 
seats are filled, and the man must have the faith 
of an apostle, if he does not have hours of terrible 
depressiouo" 

The settlement of Mr. Colver over the young 
church to which he had been called was appropri- 
ately signalized by an installation service, held 
September 15, 1839. The sermon on that occasion 
was preached by Rev. Baron Stow, other ministers 
of the city officiating. The first hymn sung was 
written by the pastor-elect and was as follows : 

While the earth is clad in darkness, 

And the people grope in night, 
Light on Zion shines with brightness, 

Christ, the Sun, hath blest her sight : 
Darkness fleeth, 

God himself is Zion's light. 

Hark ! thy Saviour saith, awaken ! 

Fling thy glorious beams afar. 
Pierce the rayless shades of midnight 

With the bright, the morning star. 
Morning breaketh, 

Earth shall feel thait God is here. 



TEEMONT TEMPLE PASTORATE. 135 

Lo ! the Gentiles haste to greet thee ; 

Kings shall swell thy countless train ; 
Flowing nations rush to meet thee, 

And to hail thy Saviour's reign. 
Blessed Jesus ! 

Let thy kingdom come, Amen. 

The Baptist pulpit of Boston at tlie time Mr. 
Colver became a pastor in that city was unsur- 
passed, if even equalled, in the genius,, the piety, 
the culture which adorned it, by that of any city 
in the land. "We may here quote the vivid words 
of Dr. Fulton, in his spirited " Memoir of Tim- 
othy Gilbert." Says Dr. Fulton, " Baldwin Place 
church was crowded under the ministry of Rev. 
Baron Stow. Rollin H. Neale, a young man, be- 
gan his ministry (at the First church) in 1837, 
and in. 1838 there was not a seat to be found in 
that thronged sanctuary where waiting crowds 
hung spell-bound, and listened with delight to an 
oratory which then as now glowed with the love 
of Christ. Charles Street was at Court End, 
crowded with the hundreds who admired the 
courtly Daniel Sharp, whose praise is yet in all 
the churches ; while the hall on Boylston Street, 
in which Robert Turnbull preached, and the house 
in Federal Street, in which the eloquent Howard 
Malcom had ministered, waited with a splendid 



136 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

congregation to welcome a worthy successor, 
whom they found in William Hague." If in re^ 
moving to Boston Mr. Colver had contemplated 
his ministry there simply as a competition for the 
prizes of eloquence, and a struggle for popularity, 
he might well have hesitated to encounter an array 
such as this. Going thither at God's call, having 
it for his mission simply to preach that Gospel 
which is " the power of God unto salvation," he 
might indeed still feel how much in contrast his 
public ministry must stand, in point of scholarly 
finish and attractiveness, with that to which Bos- 
ton congregations were accustomed, yet could re- 
assure himself in the conviction that it was not 
necessary that he should deliver his message in 
"words which man's wisdom teacheth." 

He had attained, however, to that which, next 
to his faith in God, is a minister's encouragement 
as he goes to meet emergencies. He knew his 
own power. It was a proof, also, that he had this 
consciousness of power without its frequent ac- 
companiment of vanity, that he was content, even 
in cultivated Boston, to be simply himself, making 
no attempt to imitate those whose more polished 
ways must often have seemed to him in such 
strong contrast with his own; satisfied to do his own 



TEEMOKT TEMPLE PASTORATE. 137 

work, not theirs, and make the best use possible 
of the faculties God had given him. There can 
be no doubt, at the same time, that in many things 
in which he differed from his brethren he found a 
means of strong popular impression. If in style 
and methods of illustration he was often homely, 
and in his thought and utterance very unlike the 
scholarly men about him, he was never weak, 
while these rugged, almost rude elements, fused 
in the fire of an eloquence which always rose to 
the level of the occasion, be it what it might, 
were just so much the more effectual as they were 
more natural and more evidently spontaneous. 
How he came to be viewed by those more culti- 
vated men with whom he became associated in 
his Boston ministry, these words of Dr. Neale will 
show : " Mr. Colver was in many respects a most 
remarkable man. Those who knew him when in 
Boston will agree with me, I am sure, when I say 
that he was one of our greatest preachers. I have 
heard him many times, and never without being 
impressed with his extensive Biblical knowledge, 
his correct views of Gospel doctrine, his strong 
thought, and vigorous reasoning power. He must 
have had an uncommon amount of native talent, 
a large brain and a still larger heart. His mind 



138 NATHANIEL COLVEB. 

was uncommonlj clear, and what was truly won- 
derful, while he scarcely ever made any immediate 
preparation for the pulpit, his sermons bore the im- 
press of well digested thought. He did not gener- 
ally know until Saturday afternoon or evening what 
he was to preach about the next day, and indeed 
often selected his text after entering the pulpit ; 
a fact which I could not have believed if I had not 
heard it from his own lips, for his sermons were 
unusually methodical. His plan was first to ex- 
plain the exact meaning of the text, then came 
' the doctrine,' which grew naturally out of these 
preliminary explanations. His arguments were 
well arranged, appropriate, clear, logical, increas- 
ing in weight and interest as he proceeded. There 
was no rambling, nothing extraneous ; there were 
interspersed, it is true, some queer illustrations 
and odd anecdotes, but all tending to the elucida- 
tion of his subject, and all well received. Then 
his ' inferences.' Here he laid out all his strength. 
They were nails fastened by the master of assem- 
blies. The power which had been gathering and 
increasing in the preceding parts of his discourse, 
came to a resistless concentration at the close, like 
the seventh wave of the incoming tide." 

It is easy to see how a ministry such as this 



TEEMONT TE:RIPLE PASTORATE. 139 

would have its own place in Boston, and its own 
elements of powerful effect. Indeed, it seems 
quite certain, that just because lie was not a typical 
Boston preacher, he was the more a power. Cer- 
tain it is that Tremont Temple became, while he 
filled its pulpit, the center of a peculiar fascina- 
tion, not only, but of what is much better, an in- 
fluence in behalf of truth and righteousness in all 
their forms, which made itself felt in the most ex- 
clusive circles of either the social or intellectual 
life of the city, and indeed went abroad widely 
over the land, as an inspiration to what was good, 
a felt rebuke to all that was evil. 

Mr. Colver's ministry in Boston had further 
this marked peculiarity, that while he was a sym- 
pathetic and cordial co-laborer with the advocates 
and promoters of various reforms, he never con- 
ceded to their skeptical or disorganizing principles 
one jot of the truth for which, in his stated minis- 
try, he stood so firmly. " Friends here," writes 
Dr. Fulton, "love to describe his debate with 
Henry C. Wright, famed once as an evangelical 
ally, but who afterwards broke away from the 
church, and became an open reviler of the word 
of God. He was a non-resistant, and contended 
against war in every form. Marlboro Chapel was 



140 NATHANIEL COLYER. 

packed, almost to suffocation, with a crowd eager 
to hear him. The champion of infidelity did his 
best, and was applauded to the echo by his follow- 
ers. Up rose Nathaniel Colver, then almost an 
entire stranger. He began in the calmest manner 
and by argument, by wit, by repartee, so used up 
his adversary, that the movement was ended in 
Boston, and even the Philistines became followers 
of the standard of Israel." 

It would seem almost a fault in Mr. Colver that 
he was so apt to seek out for the purpose of assail- 
ing them, those forms which diseased notions upon 
religion, society and government were wont in 
those days to assume. Great excitement pervaded 
the public mind upon questions which, long slum- 
bering, had now sprung up with aspects that 
startled the nation. At such times opinion and 
tendency may take shapes even grotesque and ri- 
diculous, and minds predisposed to fanatical and 
extreme notions will run away with absurdities 
too silly even to be laughed at. Dr. Neale says : 
" Chardon Street Chapel I remember was a favor- 
ite place for strange gatherings ; the advocates of 
non-resistance, a vegetable diet, of Miller's num- 
bers, ' time and times andhalf-a-time,' the odds and 
ends of creation. Father Lamson, Abby Folsom, 



TKEMONT TEMPLE PASTORATE. 141 

and I know not what beside, used to meet there 
on anniversary occasions for what they called 
'free discussion.' I confess I tried to dissuade Mr. 
Colver from, attending those meetings. 'It was not 
clerical or creditable to be seen in such company.' 
But he was fond of excitement, and if he had any 
fault, it was a mischievous propensity to make 
fun, to ridicule folly and laugh at sham. And 
though I wished then, and still think it would 
have been wiser and better in him to have let 
these things alone, yet it must be conceded that 
in whatever he undertook, he acted from a sense 
of duty and did his work effectually. He exposed 
the absurdity of the no-government theory which 
was then quite popular, so that it has scarcely 
been heard of from that time to this. We hear as 
little too of potatoes and squashes, which were then 
urged with great earnestness as the only health- 
ful food for man." 

It was not surprising that, in these circum- 
stances, the Boston public should come to watch 
the Temple pastor's proceedings with a curious, 
as well as a more commendable kind of interest, or 
that at times he should find himself in consequence 
of the general impression of his readiness for de- 
bate upon all controverted subjects, placed in cir- 



142 NATHAI^nEL COLVER. 

cumstances of some embarassment. An instance 
of this kind may here be given. On a Sabbath in 
January, 1844, he announced to his congregation 
that u^Don the following Lord's-day evening he 
would preach upon the text, " Be ye not unequally 
yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellow- 
ship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? 
and what communion hath light with darkness?" 
intimating his purpose to give some reasons why 
members of Christian churches should not connect 
themselves with Odd-Fellows Lodges. He did 
not propose any such treatment of the subject as 
need concern the general public, and probably 
anticipated awakening only such interest as Christ- 
ians themselves might feel in a question of per- 
sonal duty with reference to this subject. The 
announcement, however, was taken in a sense not 
meant by himself. A general attack upon Odd- 
Fellowship was anticipated, and on the evening 
in question the house was thronged " with one of 
the greatest crowds," as a daily paper of that date 
says, " ever collected at any similar discussion in 
Boston. It was estimated that there were at least 
three thousand persons in the house and upon the 
stairway ; and that at least an equal number went 
away without being able to force themselves over 



TEEMOKT TEMPLE PASTORATE. 143 

the threshold of the outer door." There was, 
of course, a good deal of disorder, "the young 
men in the upper corners climbing over each other's 
heads and creating no little disturbance." 

The appearance of the speaker for the evening 
seemed to be a signal for increased disorder. 
Some, evidently, had come resolved upon disturb- 
ance, and for a while it almost seemed, in spite of 
all Mr. Colver's efforts to secure quiet, as if he 
was not to be permitted to speak. Observing, at 
length, a well-known Odd-Fellow in the audience, 
he called him to the platform, and requested him 
to secure order and to preside. The stratagem 
succeeded. The Odd-Fellows present found them- 
selves under the presidency of one of their own 
number and subsided into quiet. Mr. Colver 
adroitly turned this circumstance to account, in 
various ways, from time to time appealing to the 
" chairman " in confirmation of some statement, 
and while fearless and plain in exposing what he 
held to be faults of the institution he was assail- 
ing, managing to do this without giving occasion 
for more than brief outbreaks of opposition. In 
fine, he completely triumphed over the unruly 
element in the midst of which he had found him- 
self, and won the applause even of enemies for 



144 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

the mingled good temper and good management 
he had shown. 

This stand taken by Mr. Colver against Odd- 
Fellowship was no new thing with him ; and 
probably he had already won a reputation, in this 
regard, which helped materiall}' to pack his place 
of meeting on the occasion just described. Signs 
of this appear in the following anonymous commu- 
nication, received by him nearly a year previous, 
as it bears date Feb. 28, 1843. 

Sir : Your lecture of last Sunday has aroused a spirit in the 
Order of Odd-Fellows which you will do well to suppress, if you have 
any regard for your personal safety. Our Order is numerous and 
powerful, and will not suffer an individual of your standing to 
expose secrets which you can have become acquainted with only 
through treachery. The raving of fools we do not notice ; but you 
must go no farther. With this warning from a friend, you must 
abide the consequences of your conduct in this affair. 
Necessitas non habet legem. 

Yours, &c., 

I. O. O. F. 

This attempt at intimidation, of course, resulted 
as did others of which we have had occasion to 
speak on previous pages. 

Mr. Colver was fortunate and happy, when en- 
tering upon his pastorate in Boston, to find him- 
self in association with such a man as Dea. Timo- 
thy Gilbert. This earnest man and "true yoke- 
fellow," while in full sympathy with his pastor 
on questions of reform, had consecrated himself to 



TREMONT TEMPLE PASTOEATE. 145 

the enterprise of a Free Baptist Churcli in Boston 
with a devotion seldom seen. Says one,* speaking 
of him in this relation, "he was fully impressed 
with the importance of there being at least one 
place of worship in Boston with free seats, where 
all persons, whether rich or poor, without distinc- 
tion of color or condition, could take a seat where 
they pleased, and have the Gospel preached to 
them in its purity. He felt that 'such a place 
was needed in Boston, especially for that large 
class of floating population of young persons, male 
and female, who were not regular attendants at 
any church, but who might be induced to attend 
if .the seats were free." These aims of the chief 
originator of the enterprise indicate as well the 
peculiar character impressed upon it from its in- 
ception, and to a great degree retained until this 
hour. Going to Boston as the minister of such a 
congregation, Mr. Colver needed to find among 
those associated with him in the work at least one 
upon whom he could rely for that spirit of enthusi- 
asm which no difficulties should cool, joined with 
that patient attention to details, for the lack of which 
so many a hopeful undertaking finds itself swamp- 

*Wm. H. Jameson, in " Memoir of Timothy Gilbert." 
lo 



146 NATHANIEL COLYER. 

ed in embarrassments. That which the pastor, 
engrossed with other cares, could not do, this 
helper of his^ joy voluntarily assumed, and to all 
the minutiae of provision for both pastor and flock 
gave constant and unwearied attention. 

In due time, the question of a suitable place of 
worship required to be considered and decided. 
From Julian Hall, at the corner of Milk and Con- 
gress Streets', the congregation after about one 
year removed to the Museum building, at the 
corner of Tremont and Bromfield Streets. Dr. 
Fulton describes graphically the circumstances 
under which Dea. Gilbert's attention was first 
directed to the building subsequently purchased 
and thenceforward occupied as the place of meet- 
ing till the close of Mr. Colver's pastorate. Speak- 
ing of Dea. Gilbert, Dr. Fulton says ; " It was his 
custom — so he relates — frequently to go out at 
night in the hope of resting a weary brain and 
giving loose rein to his desires and longings for a 
free house of worship into which he might welcome 
the poor. At these times he would take long 
walks through the deserted streets. On one of 
these occasions, while oppressed and burdened 
with the condition of the young mechanics. and 
apprentices, and also of the great crowd of Strang- 



TEEMONT TEMPLE PASTOEATE. 147 

ers without a Sabbath home, he was walking 
down School street, having just passed Tremont 
Theatre, when, suddenly impressed with the mis- 
sion of such an establishment as Tremont Temple 
contemplates, he stopped, and retraced his steps, 
and stood in the front of the old theatre. It was 
the noon of night. The bells were striking. The 
streets were silent. He bowed his head and took 
his vow, offering a prayer for guidance." 

Upon making inquiries soon after he found that 
the property was for sale, and that it could be 
bought for fifty-five thousand dollars. The result 
was a purchase of the Theatre and its adaptation, 
by changing the interior, to its new uses. Mr. 
Jameson mentions a circumstance which to those for 
whom success in this particular was so vital, ever 
after seemed strikingly providential. Some diffi- 
culties arising in Mr. Gilbert's way, a delay occurred, 
and when these were removed, he met, greatly 
to his surprise and disappointment, in the morning 
paper, on the day when he had proposed to call 
upon the Corporation and close the purchase, with 
the statement that the property had already been 
sold to the Massachusetts Mechanics' Charitable 
Association. Says Mr. Jameson ; " His disap- 
pointment was extreme, that after all his labors 



148 KATHANIEL COLVER. 

and anxiety, God had seemed again to block his 
way to success. I suggested to him that possibly 
the report in the papers might not be true, and at 
his request I went immediately to see the Treas- 
urer of the Theatre Corporation, who informed me 
that a bargain had been made with the Mechanics' 
Association, and he had considered it settled, but 
that the previous-afternoon, when he met the rep- 
resentatives of the Association to pass the papers, 
he found there was a misunderstanding, the 
the Mechanics' Association claiming that the 
chandelier and gas-fixtures were to be included in 
the purchase, while the Theatre Corporation 
insisted that they were not to be included, and 
that this small matter only had prevented the con- 
summation of the sale. He said he had no doubt 
the Association would, upon reflection, }deld their 
claims to the gas-fixtures, but that he was now at 
liberty to make the sale to any one else. I returned 
at once, and informed Mr. Gilbert, and we imme- 
diately went with Messrs. Shipley, Gould, Darwell, 
and, I think. Deacon Clement Drew, and had the 
papers drawn up and signed, made the required 
-payment, and consummated the purchase that 
day." 

In the changes made upon the building, the 



TREMONT TEMPLE PASTORATE. 149 

lower portion of it, fronting the street, was used 
for stores and other places of business, the income 
from the rents being devoted to current expenses 
and repairs, and the surplus to objects of be- 
nevolence. In this building, with an audience- 
room sufficient to seat some tv/enty-five hundred 
persons, Mr. Colver continued to mmister during 
some ten years, greatly and richly blessed therein. 
His congregation had during the year 1840 shared 
in the gracious and wonderful work in Boston 
under the preaching of Rev. Jacob Knapp. In 
that year there were added to the church by bap- 
tism and letter ninety ; in 1841, thirty ; in 1842, 
one hundred and thirty-six. Thus, at the time 
when, in 1843, the church entered its new house 
of worship, above two hundred and fifty had 
already become connected with it, making of all 
who had joined it, including its constituent mem- 
bership of eighty-two, three hundred and thirty- 
eight. 

We must be allowed to give one letter here 
illustrating the closeness of the relation existing 
between Mr. Colver and his efficient fellow-laborer 
and true friend, Dea. Gilbert. It was written 
from New York, under date of Oct. 26, 1843. The 
tenor of the first part of it fully indicates that the 



150 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

enterprise of whicli we liave been speaking was 
not carried finally through, without severe pecuni- 
ary struggles. The letter is as follows : 

Dear Bro. Gilbert : I am perfectly discouraged in my effort 
to collect money for our house. I doubt whether I get one dollar 
in New York. I returned from Philadelphia last Tuesday, having 
spent Monday there endeavoring to get something from those who 
had before given me encouragement, but got nothing. Since 
Tuesday, I have labored faithfully in New York, but have not got 
a dollar. I should have started for home on Friday, but thinking, 
of course, when I came, that I should spend the week here, I had 
engaged to preach at the Tabernacle, and it was advertised in the 
papers, and I could not get off. Brother Colgate says his hands 
are full with his ow7i free church, and he can give us nothing. 
I have called on the pastors ; they are very kind to introduce me 
to their giving men, but the churches are deeply in debt in this 
city. I learned, to-day, that they are paying interest on one 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and not a dollar can I get. 
Some of them have been to Albany for assistance, but could get 
none, the churches there being greatly embarrassed with their 
own debts. I have no hope of success there or here. I intend to 
come home next week. I shall come through Albany, and try. 

I feel bad. I fear that personal unworthiness in the sight of 
God prevents my success in a cause which I know to be good 
What shall we do ? I fear a burden will fall upon you too heavy to 
be borne, but, though I can get nothing by begging of men, I 
will yet beg the Lord to sustain you, and open up the way before 
you. His past providences in the matter surely indicate his pleas- 
ure that the enterprise should be carried through. 

It may not be amiss, or entirely uninteresting, for me to mention 
that through mercy I have succeeded at last in overcoming my 
propensity to use tobacco. Some weeks before I left, I adopted 
a pledge never again to use tobacco in any way or on any account 
whatever. Since then, the temptation has lost its power. I have 
only to reply to the suggestions of temptation that it is finally 
settled and is no longer a matter to betaken under consideration, and 



tre:mont temple pastorate. 151 

the tempter retires. I feel thankful for the attainment, but regret 
that I have been so tardy in coming to it. It has cost me much 
pain, and sometimes deep solicitude. I have at times been 
oppressed with the fear that conquest was impossible. Nor has a 
conciousness that I was giving anxiety and pain to you, while you 
were ready to make any sacrifice or endure any toil for the cause 
of our precious Redeemer, failed to afflict me. Will you pardon 
me, pray for me, and as God gives me grace, I will never afflict you 
again. 

It was not until Dec. 7, 1843, tliat Tremont 
Temple in its changed form was finally dedicated 
to the worship of God. The sermon on the occa- 
sion was by the pastor, and his text in John, xii, 
81, 32. The dedicatory prayer was by Dr. Hague ; 
Drs. Neale, Caldicott and Choules participating in 
other parts of the ser-vice. As we have, on another 
page, given the hymn written by Mr. Colver for 
the service of his installation, we will here give 
that which, written also by himself, was sung upon 
the occasion now noticed : 

Great God, before thy reverend name. 
Within these ransomed walls we bow ; 

Too long abused by sin and shame, 
To thee we consecrate them now. 

Satan has here held empire long, 

A blighting curse, a cruel reign, 
By mimic scenes, and mirth, and song 

Alluring souls to endless pain. 

Fiction no more ! God's truth at last. 
Shall here portray eternal scenes ; 

The Gospel peal, the battle blast. 

Or charm with Calvary's gentler strains. 



152 NATHANIEL COLVEK. 

Here set thy feet, Oh ! Zion's King, 
And send thy victories all abroad ; 

Blest Dove, distil from balmy wing 
The dew of life, the grace of God, 

Then let the glorious war go on, 
The banner of the cross unfurled ; 

Soon the last triumph shall be won. 
And Christ possess a ransomed world. 

We attempt here only tlie merest outline of this 
Boston pastorate. It was, without doubt, the 
best period of Mr. Colver's life. His powers were 
in their full vigor, while the work in which he was 
engaged afforded them amplo scope. Collisions 
were not wanting, it is true ; detraction did not 
cease from its dastardly work. The tempestuous 
controversies of the hour often disturbed the quiet 
of his pastorate. There were alienations which 
grieved him, faults in himself which gave him 
pain, "perils from false brethren," which were 
worse than all ; but the thirteen years of his life 
and labor in Boston were, nevertheless, filled full 
with occasions of thankfulness and ever after 
recalled with that thrill of emotion with which 
one looks back upon a period stormy with conflict, 
but glorious with victory. His house, his heart, 
and his church were a home for the stranger. 
More than one forsaken orphan's heart was made 



TREMONT TE:MPLE PASTORATE. 153 

glad for him, many a poor and timid young brother 
encouraged to persevere in his efforts to press on 
in the great work of the ministry, while to his 
preaching visitors from near and far flocked as one 
of the great attractions of what was then, and is 
still, the most fascinating city in America. How 
these visitors were often impressed is illustrated 
in the fact that a Baptist minister of distinction 
from some Southern state visiting Boston at that 
time, took occasion to hear Mr. Colver. Inquired 
of how he liked him, his reply was, "I abhor 
the man's abolitionism, but ho is the best preacher 
I have heard in Boston." 

Purposely, we have in this chapter limited our- 
selves, mainly, to Mr. Colver 's relation and work 
as a pastor, reserving for the two following chap- 
ters his connection with the antislavery movement, 
with some glances at the history of that movement 
itself. 



154 NATHANIEL COLVER. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



ANTISLA VER V. 

The period embraced by the two dates, 1838 
and 1850, was that of Mr. Colver's greatest activ- 
ity in the antislavery cause. It was also the most 
momentous period in the progress of that cause 
itself. Subsequently to 1850, perhaps, the agita- 
tion became more exclusively a political one, be- 
ing made to a greater degree than had before been 
the case a leading issue in party contests and na- 
tional legislation. Previous to this, however, the 
discussion as it went on before the country dealt 
with those radical and fundamental principles, the 
settlement of which was a condition so essential 
to the great results finally reached, while in the 
tremendous excitements so caused, every institu- 
tion of either Church or State was summoned to 
ordeals that tested it alike in its foundation and 
in its structure. It was a time of trial for religious 



ANTISLAYERY. 155 

men, equally as for politicians and statesmen. Not 
only was it found necessary to study afresh the 
teachings of Scripture upon fundamental principles 
of human relations, while various practical ques- 
tions as regards the mission and work of Christians 
required to be met under new and difficult condi- 
tions, but the relations of brethren with each 
other were necessarily disturbed, so that the bond 
of Christian fellowship was often strained to the 
■utmost point of endurance. In churches, in mis- 
sionary societies, in the various spheres of denom- 
inational or ministerial intercourse, this agitating 
question was omnipresent. Viewed as it was un- 
der the influence of diverse prepossessions, some 
political, some social, some religious, charged with 
practical difficulties, while also abounding in the- 
oretical ones, involving alike the Christian con- 
science and the national well-being, with personal 
interests and prejudices manifold and sensitive, 
it carried disturbance wherever it went, constitut- 
ing for the whole American people a great and 
momentous ordeal. 

Mr. Colver's position as pastor of the Tremont 
Street church in Boston, placed him at the very 
heart of the agitation. For Boston deserves, more 
than any other city in the Union, to be regarded 



156 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

as the center of those movements in this country, 
intellectual or social, which affect radically ques- 
tions of human rights and human relations. Mr. 
Colver, as we have seen, was called thither by a 
group of Baptist Christians, some of whom were 
already conspicuously before the public as anti- 
slavery men, and was made pastor of a church 
which in proportion as it grew in strength became 
more and more marked and prominent among the 
friends of the slave. He was brought both in vir- 
tue of these circumstances, and also by his known 
zeal and ability, and by what was already on 
record of services to the cause, into close associa- 
tion with antislavery leaders, and was speedily 
recognized as " not a whit behind the very chief- 
est" ardong the apostles of universal freedom. 
His position, too, as a Boston pastor, placed him 
face to face with questions relating to the manage- 
ment of missionary societies, and made it almost a 
matter of necessity that in the public discussion 
and the final settlement of these he should active- 
ly share. From all these circumstances it re- 
sulted that during the period of which we speak 
scarcely any name was more often before the pub- 
lic in this connection than that of Nathaniel Col- 
ver ; we might almost say that no personality was 



ANTISLAVEEY. 157 

more distinctly felt in urging on tlie movement in 
this sphere of reform than was his. 

Recurring to the time of which we speak, 
one can now review the topics then in agitation 
and the events then transpiring, with something 
of the historical spirit. By what has since taken 
place the matters then so exciting have been 
thrown, one might say, far into the past. We 
look at them now from a point of view so changed, 
that we can scarcely realize that these were scenes 
once passing under our own eye, or that in the 
agitating interest they created we ourselves once 
shared. It is, however, quite easy to see of what 
radical moment the topics then current were, and 
with what strength of tendency and influence 
they laid hold of the very pillars of both Church 
and State. Among the current records of that 
time, perhaps no other will better condense these 
topics, or indicate better the field of controversy 
occupied, than the resolutions upon the right of 
petition introduced into the lower house of Con- 
gress, in the session of 1838, by Mr. Atherton of 
New Hampshire. They were as follows : 

Resolved. That this Government is of limited powers, and that 
by the Constitution of the United States. Congress has no juris- 
diction whatever over the institution of slavery in the several 
states of the confederacy. 



158 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

Resolved. That petitions for the abolition of slavery in the 
District of Columbia and the Territories of the United States, 
and against the removal of slaves from one state to another, are a 
part of a plan of operations set on foot to affect the institution of 
slavery in the several states, and thus indirectly to destroy that 
institution within their several limits. 

Resolved. That Congress has no right to do that indirectly 
which it cannot do directly, and that the agitation of the subject 
of slavery in the District of Columbia, or in the Territories, as a 
means or with the view of disturbing or overthrowing that institu- 
tion in the several states, is against the true spirit and meaning of 
the Constitution, an infringement of the rights of the states affected, 
and a breach of the public faith on which they entered into the 
confederacy. 

Resolved. That the Constitution rests upon the broad principles 
of equality among the members of this confederacy, and that 
Congress, in the exercise of its acknowledged powers, has no 
right to discriminate between the institutions of one portion of 
the States and another, with the view of abolishing the one or 
promoting the other. 

Resolved, therefore. That all attempt on the part of Congress 
to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, or the Territories, 
or to prohibit the removal of slaves from State to State, or to dis- 
criminate between the constitutions of one portion of the confed- 
eracy and another, with the views aforesaid, are in violation of the 
constitutional principles on which the union of these States rests, 
and beyond the jurisdiction of Congress ; and that every petition, 
memorial, resolution, proposition on paper, touching or relating 
in any way, or to any extent whatever, to slavery as aforesaid, or 
the abolition thereof, shall on presentation thereof, without any 
further action thereon, be laid on the table without printing, read- 
ing, debate or reference. 

It is doubtful if the history of legislation af- 
fords a more significant example of high-handed 
and despotic interference with the rights of a free 
people and of their representatives than is seen 
in these resolutions, and one reads with amaze- 
ment the record which shows that they passed the 
House with a vote of 127 to 78. It is a curious 
illustration, however, of the state of opinion at 



ANTISLAVEEY. 159 

the time, that Mr. Wise, of Virginia, then and af^ 
terwards noted as one of the most zealous defend- 
ers of slavery, so far from sympathizing with those 
who conceived this " gag-law," as it was called in 
phraseology then current, strongly opposed it. In 
the debate upon the resolutions he declared that 
they did not represent the sentiments of the 
South. At one point in his remarks, he said, " I 
contend that there shall be no censor in this house 
over the free, unfettered movements of the human 
mind. You might as well attempt to fetter flame 
with bands of flax as to fetter the free, immortal 
mind." The event proved that the sentiment 
thus expressed was eminently just. The minority 
in Congress were men who valued too highly the 
rights of free speech to submit to such absolutism 
on the part of the majority. A time came when, 
led by the " old man eloquent," John Quincy 
Adams, they succeeded in opening the doors of 
Congress once more to the right of petition, and 
secured to antislavery opinion the same privileges 
as every other to a representation. It required, 
however, the sustained effort of eight years, from 
1838 to 1846, to bring this result to pass upon the 
floor of either house. We need not say with what 
vigorous blows this measure of Congress was as- 



160 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

sailed by Mr. Colver. Every element of his stal- 
wart manhood was roused to resent the attempt 
to bind a whole people in the person of their leg- 
islators. He recognized in it the same spirit 
which he himself was from time to time encounter- 
ing in the mobs and riots, as well as the bitter de- 
nunciations through the press, by which he and his 
fellow-laborers were assailed in the strange hope of 
intimidation. He felt, and rightly, that the battle 
was not simply in the interests of the enslaved 
colored race, but in those also of the whole Amer- 
ican people. 

Upon other characteristic political incidents oi 
the time we must not dwell. They were watched 
by the antislavery leaders with keen vigilance, 
and we see them always on the alert to meet the 
*' slave power'* at every point of its aggressions, 
and to make the most of those damaging infer- 
ences as to the character of the system, afforded 
by its bold and unprincipled attempts to pervert 
to its own use the sanctions of organic law equally 
as the impulses of sectional prejudice. They did 
not miss the text furnished them in such incidents 
as that of the ignominious expulsion of Judge 
Hoar from the commonwealth of South Carolina, 
whither he had been sent by the Governor of Mas- 



AJ^TTISLAVERY. 161 

sachusetts as a commissioner to test the legality of 
the imprisonment of certain colored citizens of 
Massachusetts in South Carolina jails ; or that of 
the passage of the Fugitive Slave Bill, by which 
it was sought to convert every American citizen in- 
to a slave-catcher ; or those frequent occasions on 
which, both in the North and in the South, the 
spirit of violence, with manifestations often per- 
fectly diabolical, burst out against those who bore 
the hated name of '' abolitionist." In these things 
were seen the madness of the hour. If the zeal of 
those who denounced them sometimes passed the 
limit of discretion, it was a venial fault. If the hot 
words of indignant champions of freedom fed the 
the flame of general agitation, and contributed 
to hasten the impending conflagration, it will be 
great injustice to censure them on this account as 
mere fire-brands. A national evil of such magni- 
tude and such strength, was not to be aboHshed 
by mild means alone. If conservatism had its 
mission in those trying times, so likewise had rad- 
icalism ; and we shall judge either men or events 
fairly only as we recognize both radicalism and 
conservatism as instruments of the gracious prov- 
idence, whose purposes were then ripening faster 

than any one dared to hope. 
II 



162 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

Wliile Mr. Colver, in his advocacy of anti- 
slavery views, kept himself fully abreast with 
these incidents of the time, and clearly saw and 
forcibly exhibited their significance, it is chiefly 
as a Christian, and as a minister, that we find him 
dealing with this great question. In the ministry 
and in the churches, that view of the subject of 
human slavery which chiefly commanded attention, 
was that which regarded it in the light of Scrip- 
ture. Does the Bible sanction slavery ? Are the 
references to this subject, whether in the Old 
Testament or the New, such as to suggest that the 
relationship of master and slave has a divine rec- 
ognition and a divine approval, either express or 
implied? With this question was associated 
another : What is the moral character of that act 
in which one human being holds another in slavery, 
claims him as property, buys him, sells him, uses 
his labor without requital, and as a protection to 
himself in seeking to perpetuate that relation, 
shuts from the slave's mind, wholly or partially, 
the light of knowledge ? Many were prepared to 
admit the evil of slavery — its mischievous tenden- 
cies, in every way — who would not acknowledge it 
to be a sin, Mr. Colver, from the time he first 
stood face to face with the institution, at Rich- 



ANTISLAVEEY. 163 

mond and Washington, down to the latest moment 
of his life, took the radical view of both these 
pregnant questions. We shall not discuss them 
here. They belong, now, rather to history than 
to contemporary interests, and should at present 
be treated only from the historical point of view. 
We are concerned here only with the ground as- 
sumed by ]\Ir. Colver, and the reasoning by which 
he maintained himself there. 

One of those notable occasions on which the dis- 
cussion of these subjects assumed a form specially 
characteristic and significant, was that of a session 
of the American Baptist Antislavery Society, held 
in Tremont Chapel, Boston, May 26-28, 1841. 
Of the organization of the Baptist Antislavery 
Convention, the occasion and history of it, we 
shall speak further on. We allude, in this place, 
to the session now mentioned only as it affords us 
the opportunity to illustrate the method of anti- 
slavery men, and expecially that of Mr. Colver, in 
deahng with topics of the kind in question. The 
following resolution, introduced by Mr. Colver, 
furnished the theme for the discussion that fol- 
lowed : 

Resolved. That the system of American slavery, in its essential 
principles, has no analogy in the servitude tolerated in the Bible ; 



164 NATHAKEEL COLYER. 

but that, in its origin and continuance, it is defined in the law of 
man-stealing, and, with whatever mitigating circumstances it may 
be attended, it is a sin against God. 

The President of the Conyention, Eev. Elon 
Galusha, was in the chair. Among those present 
was Rev. Jonathan Davis, pastor of the Bethel 
Baptist Church, Georgia. In opening the discus- 
sion upon the subject of the resolution, Mr. Col- 
ver said ; 

I shall feel the more pleasure in communicating my views upon 
this subject at this time, as I see (and I am happy to see) one of 
the most respected slave-holding brethren with us on the present- 
occasion. I allude to the Rev. INIr. Davis, of Georgia, — for al- 
though I may not have the pleasure of reckoning him a convert to 
my argument, yet, sir, I may hope that, in the communications to 
which he may listen, he may be convinced that, abolitionists as 
we are, we have not forgotten the laws of Christian courtesy and 
brotherly kindness, and that our opposition to slavery has its ori- 
gin in love, and not hate, in our hearts, and not in our imagina- 
tions, and in our judgment, not in our passions. I may venture to 
hope, sir, that the spirit he shall witness, and the reception he 
shall meet from the brethren assembled on this occasion, may dis- 
possess him of the delicate feelings of a stranger, and enable him, 
with the freedom of a brother, to take part with us in our consul- 
tations on this deeply interesting subject. 

We may add that to this courteous invitation 
Mr. Davis responded, addressing the Convention 
in reply to Mr. Colver, at much length, both upon 
this and upon following days, enjoying the protec- 
tion of Christian courtesy in the fullest expression 
of his views. In his further introductory remarks, 
Mr. Colver explained the motive for bringing for- 
ward the resolution. He said : 



ANTISLAVERY. 165 

At the recent Triennial Convention at Baltimore, in a private 
conference between leading Northern members of the Board and 
Southern slaveholders, an article was drawn up and signed by them, 
and subsequently by many others, charging us with introducing 
thereby a test of communion, and condemning us for so doing. 
This document, connected as it was with the previous demands of 
the South, that as a condition of their future co-operation, the 
members of the Board should, either in their official or " individu- 
al " capacity, repudiate the refusal of the abolishtionists to com- 
mune with slaveholders, and connected as it was with an " under- 
standing " in said conference, that those brethren who fell under 
the censure of the document should be left off the new Board 
about to be elected, and also with the subsequent action of the 
Convention, in the rejection of the abolitionists from the Board, 
has involved the missionary organization in this controversy. Its 
influence is directly interposed to check the free action of the 
churches on the subject. Slavery has a spirit, and that spirit stops 
not at the subjugation of the helpless captive to its domination, 
but claims to wield our benevolent associations as instruments of 
its power, to cripple the energies of the churches, to chain its 
abominations to their communion, and to secure for itself a quiet 
reti-eat under the folds of the Church of God. 

These remarks make clear tlie position of tlie 
more advanced antislavery men among the Bap- 
tists at the time of which we write. Satisfied that 
the holding of human beings as slaves is a sin, 
and acting upon the apostolic injunction not to 
" suffer sin upon a brother," these brethren be- 
lieved it their duty to express their disapprobation 
of the sin against which they protested by with- 
drawing fellowship from those who justified them- 
selves in it. This led to the proceedings at Balti- 
more, of which Mr. Colver speaks. Assembled 
now in Convention on the occasion we are des- 
cribing, the antislavery men were declaring to the 



166 NATHANIEL COLVEK. 

world the reasons whicli influenced them in their 
course. The point involved was the teaching of 
Scripture as to the real character of slavery, and 
to this point the discussion was directed through- 
out. We cannot give the whole argument, but 
may quote from Mr. Colver's first speech the fol- 
lowing passage as containing the main points : 

Our opponents in attempting to justify slavery from the Bible, 
in all the passages they quote, whether from the Old Testament 
or the New, in order to give them any force, are under the necessity 
of taking for granted the very question in dispute. No man 
doubts that the Old Testament authorized and the New Testa- 
ment sanctions the relation of master and servant. The question 
is, did that law authorize the reduction of men to, and the holding 
of men as, chattels, subject absolutely to property contingencies? 
Were the Jewish servants not merely bond-?nen, were they CHAT- 
TELS? Were they refused to be reckoned among sentient beings, 
but as things r Before the advocates of slavery can gain our con- 
fidence, they must fairly meet this point. The onus probandi is on 
them — they must give us proof, both relevant 2,^0.^ positive. 

In the absence of all careful discrimination we are often re- 
ferred with much confidence to Leviticus xxv, 44-46. You can 
read it at your leisure. I will only notice the points which are 
relied upon in this controversy. And what does this passage 
prove? "Why," says the objector, "that God authorized men to 
buy men." Very well, but that does not prove that when they 
were bought they were the chattels personal of those who bought 
them. Jacob bought his wives but they were not his chattels. 
Were I able, I would buy all the slaves of the South, to-day, but 
I would not hold a slave for the world. I would buy them out of 
chattelship into manhood. " But," says the objector, "they bought 
them to be their 'bondmen.' " Very well, but are you sure that a 
bondman was a chattel ? Keep the question in view. The Eng- 
lish word, " bondman," when and where the Bible was translated, 
signified an apprentice, but an apprentice is not a chattel. And if 
you go to the original you will get no help. There is no Hebrew 
or Greek word there, which answers to the English word bond. 
Both the Hebrew ebed, and the Greek dotdos, simply signify an 
actor — one who acts or serves, — and are often applied to God, to 
angels, to kings, to prophets, and to men in all conditions ; but of 



ANTISLAVEET. 167 

the character or rank of the actor, it proves nothing. I need not 
stop to give you instances, the Bible is full of them. You have 
no evidence, then, in the word, that the bondman was a chattel. 

The objector urges again, "but it proves that the children of 
strangers in their midst, and of the heathen round about them 
whom they should buy, should be a possession, an inheritance for 
themselves and their children forever." Very well ; " God is the 
inheritance of his saints," but he is not their chattel. " Children 
are an heritage" but they are not chattels. The Israelites had the 
Land of Goshen for a possession, but they did not own it. There 
is nothing in these terms to prove that the bondmen were chat- 
tels ; indeed, with their regulations in this case, they prove the 
reverse. The power of sale is indispensable to property, owner- 
ship, but the Jew could not sell his bondman. Possession may, 
for its continuance or relinquishment, be subject to the will of him 
who has put the possesssor in trust, and so in this case. The Jew 
could not relinquish the possession of his bondman at pleasure, 
he was bound by law to fulfill the stipulated guardianship, and if 
he died, his son must step into his place and fulfill it for him, and 
so on till the year of jubilee gave to the servant the reward of his 
apprenticeship, viz., full citizenship in Israel. The master could 
neither sell him nor transfer him ; while, on the other hand, the 
servant was only bound by his own interest. He could leave his 
master when he chose, and the law forbade his being restored to 
his master, and provided for his dwelling in any of their gates 
whenever he chose, only he must dwell as a stranger. By escaping 
he failed to become a citizen. Nothing is here said indicating the 
chattel principle. 

That -while the Bible does not sanction slavery 
it condemns it, was argued from the fact that 
slavery as existing in modem times has its root in 
what God's law has most pointedly condemned, 
denouncing against it capital penalties. This law 
Mr. Colver quoted from Exodus, xxi, 16 : " And 
he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he 
be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to 
death." " The case stands thus," so he argued, 
" God is the legitimate owner of every man. God 



168 NATHANIEL COLYER. 

has constituted every man the guardian of 
himself, as a moral being, subject to his laws, with 
guardian responsibilities as deathless as his being. 
As a guardian over himself, it is not among his 
functions to relinquish his charge to the absolute 
will of another. Whoever, therefore, takes him 
from himself and subjects him to the will of 
another, steals him from the guardiaji with whom 
God has entrusted hun, and he that does that, steals 
him from God, and, need I add, involves himself 
in the sin specified in the law under consideration." 
It was insisted that slavery, as it existed in these 
American States, originating in cruel kidnapping, 
with every conceivable element of enormity, 
acquired hence a character which must always 
cling to it ; a character, too, which brought upon 
it the condemnation of divine law, and made it 
necessarily a sin. 

Such was the form of the argument. Mr. Davis 
replied at length, maintaining the view held by 
Southern Christians that the relation as it existed 
amongst them did not difPer, radically from the 
relation of master and servant as sanctioned in the 
Bible, and claiming that those then holding slaves, 
having received them by inheritance, with all the 
responsibilities attached, should not be made 



AXTISLAVERY. 169 

accountable for the circumstances under which 
the black man was first brought to American 
shores. Replymg to Mr. Davis, Mr. Colver, offered 
some general observations upon the law in Leviti- 
cus XXV, 46, which we may quote in further illus- 
tration of his method of reasoning : 

First, that law made no distinction of color. The slave law is 
predicated 74^091 color. Now, if that law ordained slaveiy, and the 
brother will have it for his warrant, let him take it as it is. Let 
the whites, as well as the blacks, come in for a share of its kind 
provisions. If you are warranted by that law to buy, hold and sell 
black slaves, you have in it an equal Vv'arrant to treat whites in the 
same manner. I put it to the brother if, according to his interpre- 
tation of that law, he would not be warranted to buy and hold as 
slaves any foreign white persons who might be brought to the 
shores of Georgia by a pirate vessel which had captured them ? 
* * By v/hat Jesuitism is that law by Southern application 
restricted to colored men ? Will the brother anwser this ? 

Again : that law authorized the commenceinent as well as the 
continuance of the system. Was it like Southern slavery? Does 
the brother think it was .'' Then why would he not commence it 
Sir would he '* lose his right arm from his body sooner" than do 
what the law which he quotes as his defence authorized to be 
done? To continue to hold under his supposed sanction of that 
law he is willing, but to commejice, what by his interpretation that 
law authorized to be commenced, why sir, he would " sooner lose 
his right arm from his body " 

But again it was optional with the bondman under that law, 
whether he continued in his condition a single day : " And it shall 
be if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee : because he 
loveth thee and thy house, because he is well with thee," etc. (Deut. 
XV i6 xxiii, 15,16.) Sir, if the South will incorporate this saving 
clause into the slave-code, I will cease to trouble them on the 
subject. If the brother will give his slaves the benefit of it, I will 
no longer debar him from my communion. 

One or two incidents of the discussion may be 
noticed as characteristic. At one point in the 
debate Mr. Davis said : 



170 NATHANIEL COLYER. 

" Elder Colver has said that he will relieve me 
of my troubles about this property so that I may 
not continue in my guilt. Now I ask Elder 
Colver if, in addition to that, he will pay me for 
my slaves, and provide for them. I ask him if he 
will take them away to New England and raise 
them from their condition of slavery, and carry 
out this matter as he should " 

To this Mr. Colver replied : " I will answer the 
brother's inquiry by saying that I will relieve him 
of all his slaves if he will pay them back their 
hard-earned wages." 

Mr. Davis answered, " I admire the shrewdness 
of the reply ; but honesty requires that I should 
De paid the full price for having kept them so 
long. Perhaps, after all, this keeping is not so 
profitable as is supposed. If you take them, you 
must take them as they are." 

"I will take them on those terms," said Mr. 
Colver, "If you will deduct the extravagant 
expenses you have obliged them to meet while 
supporting you and themselves." 

Mr. Colver had used one of his quaint illustra- 
tions in replying to the objection that the two 
races, if the blacks were emancipated, could not 
dwell together ; he said : 



AKTISL AVERY. 171 

Sir, I am reminded of an anecdote which presents the justice 
of the matter. A man had two horses, a grey one and a black 
one. His son said, " Father, the grey horse kiclcs the black one 
and won 't stand peaceably with him in the stable. Shall I turn 
Blackout?" "No said the old man, "if Grey won 't let Black 
alone, turn Grey out into the storm ; " and justice says, amen. 

After the colloquy noticed above, Mr. Davis 
said, " Let me pass now to notice the story of the 
"black and grey horse. It appears they were 
fighting." 

" No," said Mr. Colver, " not fighting. Old Grey 
was kicking Black." 

"Well," answered Mr. Davis, ''have it so, 
then. The grey horse, it seems, would kick the 
hardest, and so he would have him turned out into 
the storm. Now I will give a different version. 
If the grey horse (I had rather call him white) 
does so, and you leave Black in the stable, I warn 
you to take care how you help turn out White 
into the storm." 

This intimation of possible collisions more serious 
in their character than debates upon principles, 
might seem almost prophetic, if it had fore- 
shadowed with more accuracy the real character 
of such collisions when at last they came. Mr. 
Davis, in this debate, manifested excellent temper 
and proved himself a foeman not unworthy the 
steel of the champion he had encountered. He 



172 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

was a man of limited culture but decided ability 
as a disputant. Probably the cause of the South 
was by him as creditably represented as it could 
have been by any one, and it is a pleasure to add 
that he was heard patiently and answered courte- 
ously, throughout. He lost something, however, 
in the good opinion of the audience, by withdraw- 
ing abruptly at the close of his second speech, and 
without waiting to hear Mr. Colver's reply. 

We may add, from the pen of Dr. Neale,* the 
graphic account of a similar occasion, antecedent, 
it would seem, to that of which we have been 
speaking : 

Abolitionism in Boston was then unpopular. Merchants and 
lawyers, ministers and church-members, I am sorry to say, who 
had respect to their standing in society, stood aloof from a question 
which was considered low and vulgar. Mr. Davis had come to 
attend the May anniversaries, and was welcomed as an honored 
guest in the m.ost respectable circles. Being naturally a- kind man, 
and understanding that some few "good folks," he said in Boston 
had got some strange notions in their heads on the subject of 
slavery, he proposed to meet them and explain the position of his 
Southern brethren on this subject. The meeting was held in a 
large hall occupied by Mr. Colver's church, before their removal to 
Tremont Temple. The hall was crowded to its utmost capacity. 
Ministers and people of all denominations, from the city and 
country, were present. Mr. Davis spoke with great confidence 
and with no little talent, and evidently had the outward respect, 
if not the full sympathy of the audience. Mr. Colver sat in the 
crowd silent but with a keen and sparkling eye, and an ill-con- 
cealed movement of limb and working of muscle, like a war-steed 
impatient for battle. He was then comparatively unknown. He 
h^d but recently come to this city. He was not very refined in 
air or manner, and, as was his habit, had made no preparation 

*In the Boston " Christian Era.'* 



Ali^TISLAVEIlY. 173 

whatever for the occasion. But when Mr. Davis had finished his 
address he rose at once to reply. That reply I do not exagger- 
ate when I say, was one of the greatest intellectual and rhetorical 
efforts I ever listened to. He proceeded deliberately from point 
to point, omitting nothing, forgetting nothing, meeting argument 
with argument, fact with fact, anecdote with anecdote, all the 
while firm, manly, good-natured, and surpassingly eloquent. 
The audience were alternately melted to tears and convulsed with 
laughter. Before he closed he had them all with him, not except- 
ing Mr. Davis himself. " Give us your hand," he said to Mr. 
Colver, " I believe you are an honest man ; " but said nothing about 
continuing the debate. 

We have dwelt more at length, upon the occa- 
sion we have been describing, because in some 
respects it may be taken as a representative one. 
In the extracts given from Mr. Colver's speeches, 
our purpose has of course been, not to re-open 
questions now perhaps finally closed, but to 
illustrate the form then assumed by the momen- 
tous matters in agitation, and Mr. Colver's 
method in dealing with them. It should be 
noticed here, and the tenor of these extracts will 
confirm the statement, that Mr. Colver in his 
reasoning dealt rather with principles than with 
men. When his language seemed severe it was in 
speaking rather of the system which to him was 
so rank in every kind of evil, than of those who 
came forward as its champions. At one point in 
the same debate he said, alluding to Mr. Davis, 
" If my brother thinks that the refusal of Aboli- 
tionists to receive slave-holders to their commu- 



174 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

nion results from unkind feelings toward them, 
he is mistaken — entirely nistaken. Judging as 
we do, to hold a man as a chattel is a sin, and a 
sin of no ordinary magnitude, we should be recre- 
ant to the great Head of the Church to do other- 
wise than as we do * * Sir, I love the slave- 
holder and the slave, they are alike my brother 
men, and God commands me to love them with an 
impartial love ; but I love the wrongs of neither, 
and I cannot have fellowship with the oppressor 
of his brother man, however much I may love 
him." 

Mr. Colver's active service in the antislavery 
cause brought him, as we have said, into intimate 
association with leading advocates of that cause, 
among them the Amesbury poet, John G. Whittier. 
He once visited Mr. Whittier at his home, in 
Amesbury, and greatly enjoyed the opportunity 
of closer intercourse with a spirit so intensely 
devoted to all the interests of humanity, and in 
whom such rare genius was united to such sim- 
plicity and gentleness. Mr. Whittier invited him 
to attend the Quaker meeting with which he him- 
self was connected. To this Mr. Colver readily 
agreed. Mr. Whittier said, "If tL::i dost, thou 
must keep silence, and not speak. A man named 



ANTISLAVEEY. 175 

Beach is now in prison for speaking in their meet- 
ing. Thou art solemnly warned." 

" It was a silent meeting," said Mr. Colver 
afterward^, "one man got asleep, and so did I." 

Upon their return Mr. Whittier inquired of 
his guest, " Well, Friend Colver, how didst thou 
like the Quaker meeting ? " 

Mr. Colver, who had his answer in readiness, 
rephed as follows : 

Well, John, since thou a Quaker art, 

Go to, I '11 tell thee all my heart. 

Quite plain, but neat, the place I found : 

A solemn stillness reigned around. 

I took a seat, and down I sat, 

And gazed upon a Quaker hat. 

While all around, in solemn mood, 

I ween were thinking something good. 

But I still eyed that Quaker hat ; — 

The crown was low, the brim was flat. 

It canopied a noble pate 

Who still in solemn silence sate. 

I thought him thinking of his God, 

When lo ! the hat began to nod ! 

The Spirit moved to use my speech : 

I should, but then I thought of Beach, 

I longed his drowsy soul to waken. 

But thought it best to save my bacon ; 

And — would you think me such a chap ? — 

I gave it up and took a nap ! 

In 1840, April 29-30, in the city of New York, 
the American Baptist Antislavery Convention was 



176 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

organized, and held its first session. Rev. Elon 
Galuslia was elected its President, Rev. Nathaniel 
Colver, Chairman of Executive Committee, Rev. 
C. P. Grosvenor Secretary. Among the* measures 
of the Convention was the opening of a corres- 
pondence with brethren in the South, in the form 
of carefully prepared letters, which were printed in 
a bi-monthly periodical, in the tract form, entitled 
the '' Baptist Antislavery Correspondent," and 
published at Worcester, Mass. One of these let- 
ters, written by Rev. Elon Galusha and addressed 
to Rev. Richard Fuller, then of Beaufort, S. C. 
excited great attention. Others were more gen- 
eral in their address, but similar in substance and 
spirit. One who has been accustomed to hear 
much, as many have, of the violence of abolitionists 
in those exciting times, and to judge of them 
purely upon this testimony, would we imagine 
read this correspondence with some surprise. He 
would find that these men who declined to fellow- 
ship in the communion their brethren who held 
slaves, accounted them brethren none the less, and 
observed in addressing them all the laws of frater- 
nal intercourse. He would see that this disavowal 
of fellowship expressed no hostility, but was rather 
the course to which as antislavery men they felt 



ANTISLAVERY. 177 

themselves driven by the logical result of their 
antislavery principles. They speak of the institu- 
tion with unsparing severity ; but they come to its 
supporters, brethren in their judgment misled 
and greatly erring, but brethren still — not with 
a rod but in love. More than any other, perhaps, 
Mr. Colver was the guiding spirit of this Conven- 
tion, and we clearly see traces of his mmd and 
heart in the correspondence of which we speak. 
Other measures of the Convention we shall have 
occasion to notice in another place. 

In June of the year last named, 1840, Mr. Col- 
ver sailed for England as a delegate from the Con- 
vention, and from the Massachusetts Abolition So- 
ciety to the World's Antislavery Convention in 
London. He was aocompanied by Mr. Galusha, 
representing also the Baptist Convention and the 
American and Foreign Antislavery Society, also 
by Mr. Grosvenor. Among the other Americans 
present, were William Lloyd Garrison and Wen- 
dell Phillips. Taking an active part in the Con- 
vention were Clarkson, Joseph Sturge, Daniel 
O'Connell, Lord Brougham, Guizot, the French 
statesman, with various members of the English 
nobility, including Prince Albert. Mr. Colver has 
spoken frequently of the embarassment he felt in 

12 



178 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

his association with men so conspicuous both for 
genius and for culture, while himself so almost 
without any of the helps of scholarly training. 
Early in the sessions of the Convention at Exeter 
Hall, he was called out, and compelled to speak 
absolutely without premeditation. It was for him, 
as it would be for any man in such circumstances, a 
trying occasion. In precisely these circumstances, 
however, his happiest efforts were often made. His 
speech produced a marked effect ; he was publicly 
and warmly congratulated on account of it, and in 
the remaining proceedings was one of the recognized 
men. One point he succeeded in carrying with 
nearly the whole British part of the Convention 
in opposition ; a point relating to communion with 
slaveholders. The resolutions introduced upon 
this subject asserted broadly that a slaveholder 
could not be a Christian. Mr. Colver opposed 
this, and succeeded in having it materially modi- 
fied and softened. Returning from this Conven- 
tion to Boston, after a stay of some six months in 
England, he and Mr. Galusha were welcomed in a 
public meeting held in that city, in which the 
value of their services was emphatically recognized. 
Additional to improvement of health, which had 
again become much impaired, Mr. Colver experi- 



ANTISLAVERY. 179 

enced keen gratification in visiting points in Eng- 
land made memorable by events in our denomina- 
tional history, and in making valued acquaintances 
among distinguished men. He found a cordial 
welcome to English pulpits, and on returning to 
this country left behind him, especially in Birming- 
ham, traces of his power in " handling the word 
of God " which long years after still survived in 
the heart and memory, and enlarged experience 
of those who heard him. 

To this European visit we shall have occasion to 
allude again. 



180 NATHANIEL COLYEE. 



CHAPTER IX. 



ANTISLA VER V AND MISSIONS, 

In the existing state of opinion, North, and 
South, at the time of which we write, two things 
only in the relation of Northern and Southern 
Baptists, could be imagined as possible : — either, 
upon the one hand, entire silence upon the subject 
of slavery, or, upon the other, separate organiza- 
tion in missionary and other benevolent work. 
The difference between the two sections in point 
of principle, was so radical and so wide, and the 
personal elements involved so exciting, that con- 
tinued discussion and continued union were wholly 
out of the question. Nor was it to be expected 
that either side would yield itself vanquished by 
the arguments of the other. Men are seldom 
convinced by mere argument ; especially when 
long-standing prepossessions and dictates of per- 
sonal interest range themselves with the opposi- 



ANTISLAVERY AND ]VnSSIONS. 181 

tion. Of the alternatives just mentioned, the 
second alone was practicable. Silence and acquies- 
cence, as regards the system of slavery, were not 
to be thought of. The time had come when this 
institution must meet the ordeal of public judg- 
ment, when the right or wrong of it must be 
tested at the tribunals of reason and the word 
of God. The mind, and conscience, and appre- 
hension of the nation had been aroused, with 
reference both to its character and its tendency. 
The question once asked. Is slavery right, and 
shall it be perpetuated ? it demanded an answer, 
and the agitation of it, once begun, could never 
cease while the institution lasted. 

Looking back, now, upon the events of that 
period, we see plainly that the union of Northern 
and Southern Baptists in missionary and other 
denominational work was not to be looked for. 
And still, brethren associated as the Baptists of 
this country were, are naturally slow to believe 
that the union they have found so pleasant, and 
which seems so essential, cannot be maintained. 
There will always be, moreover, at such a time, a 
greater or less number who look upon the agitation 
which threatens to sunder the bonds of union as 
itself wrong, and who will seek either to hush 



182 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

discussion, or at least to so limit it, as that it shall 
be kept outside the common organization. Many 
things combined to invest the union of American 
Baptists in missionary work with a species of 
sacredness. The Triennial Convention, under 
which name the common organization to this end 
had been made, coming into being in 1814, when 
the hearts of American Baptists were just begin- 
ing to catch the glow of missionary fervor, and 
amidst circumstances investing it with peculiar 
providential sanctions, had, during a career of 
some thirty years, enshrined in its records a story 
of missionary devotion and sacrifice, with memori- 
als of especial divine favor upon the work, which 
consecrated it as in a special sense ordained and 
approved of God. This record of suffering and 
of triumph was, too, a common heritage. The 
South might claim it, as well as the North, the 
North no less than the South. The fathers of the 
denomination in each section had equally given 
to this work among the heathen their prayers, their 
offerings, their counsels, and had pleaded with 
accordant eloquence in its behalf. Is it in the 
least wonderful that many should say, " Whatever 
comes, we must still be one people ? " 
At the same time, to continue one people, in 



ANTISLAVERY AND MISSIONS. 183 

this sense, was impossible. Of those who became 
more and more satisfied of this as time went on, 
there were some who, like Mr. Colver, cherished 
warm Christian affection for the brethren of the 
South, and when they saw the tendency of anti- 
slavery agitation in the particular named, persisted 
in it only because, as a matter of conscience, they 
felt that they must. We cannot imagine such a 
thing as Nathaniel Colver ceasing to plead the 
cause of the slave so long as there remained a 
slave on American soil. That, nevertheless, he 
loved his brethren in the South we know, with 
some of them, like Dr. Brantly, his personal rela- 
tions continuing to be of the most fraternal sort 
during this whole trying period. But the strin- 
gency of the case was no less a result of Southern 
than of Northern conviction. Standing forward 
as champions of slavery, and identified with it in 
all their social and personal relations, keenly sen- 
sitive to the criticisms of those who were assailing 
the institution with such vigorous blows. South- 
ern Baptists came at last to put forward claims, 
and demand guarantees, which in the nature of 
the case could not be allowed. 

About the year 1840, the more advanced anti- 
slavery Baptists, and among them Mr. Colver, 



184 KATHAJ^IEL COLVER. 

felt constrained in testimony of their disapproval of 
slavery, to withdraw from those in the denomina- 
tion South who had slaves, the expression of their 
fellowship, and to decline communion with them. 
They put this upon the exclusive ground of the 
connection of Southern brethren with slavery, and 
gave as their reason that they felt bound, in this 
way, to express their disapprobation of what they 
deemed the sin of slaveholding. This, perhaps, 
more than any other thing, brought matters to a 
crisis. Among those assuming this position was 
Rev. Elon Galusha, an influential Baptist Minister 
in the North, an eloquent advocate of antislavery 
views, and at the time we mention a member of 
the Board of the Triennial Convention. In 1841, 
the Convention held its tenth Triennial meeting 
in Baltimore. At this meeting a new Board was 
to be elected, charged with the direction of the 
missions for the term of the ensuing year. The 
first note of final division was sounded in connec- 
tion with the election of that Board, and more 
especially the re-election of Mr. Galusha. 

In the previous year the Board had issued a cir^ 
cular, signed by Dr. Sharp, the President, and by 
Dr. Stow, the Recording Secretary, in which its 
position as regards the subject of slavery was 



ANTISLAVERY AND MISSIONS. 185 

defined; declaring that subject to be so foreign 
to all the ends for which the Constitution and the 
Board had been called into being, as to place it 
outside the sphere of either. Regarding the Con- 
vention, the Circular sajs : 

Our venerated fathers who constituted the original Convention, 
contemplating in the new organization the prosecution of the for- 
eign missionary enterprise alone, and justly appreciating the vast 
extent of the work, and the demands which it would make upon 
the sympathies and resources of all benevolent hearts within the 
bounds of the community whom the Convention was designed to 
represent, were careful to lay no obstruction in the way of any 
individuals who might be disposed to communicate to its funds, 
nor any restriction upon the liberty of counsel or direction in its 
concerns, further than was judged indispensable to their efficient 
and safe administration. Their purpose, distinctly avowed in the 
preamble already alluded to, " was the eliciting, combining, and 
directing the energies of the whole denomination in one sacred 
* * effort." By the constitution, as it now stands, and has 
always stood, the right to a seat or representation in the Conven- 
tion is based only on two conditions ; 1st. That the religious body 
or individual be of the Baptist denomination ; and 2nd. That the 
same shall have contributed to the treasury of the Convention a 
specified annual sum. 

Of the relations and responsibilities of the 
Board, the circular says : 

These relations and responsibilities have to some extent been 
misapprehended by brethren near and remote, and the conse- 
quence of the misapprehension has been to hold the Board 
accountable for things done and not done, in relation to all which 
alike the Board has done nothing because it had nothi^ig to do. 

With respect to such things the Board has, so to speak, neither 
a name nor existence. Its vitality and power are wholly derived, 
and it can by its present constitution act only to one end. As to 
all other intents and purposes, the Board can have power and 
will, only when first it shall have been endowed with them by the 
Convention, from whom it emanates. 

Further on, the circular alludes- to the question 



186 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

of fellowsliiping slaveholders. Some expression of 
its views upon this subject had been called for. 
Consistently with what had been before said of the 
relations of the Board to the general question, it is 
held that it can properly take no action upon this 
special one. The fellowshiping or non-iellowship- 
ing of either individuals or churches is a matter 
which belongs to the churches themselves, and the 
Board in this circular refers the whole subject to 
that tribunal. 

This declaration of neutrality on the part of the 
Board was doubtless addressed equally to brethren 
North and brethren South, and intended to show 
that an antislavery position, or a proslavery one, 
on the part of either the Convention or the Board, 
was equally impossible. At the meeting of the 
Convention held in Baltimore, of which we began 
to speak a little above, antislavery men felt that 
this neutrality, whether right or wrong, had not 
been observed. As we have said. Rev. Elon 
Galusha, prominent among those antislavery men 
who had disfellowshiped Baptist slaveholders, was 
a member of the Board. An attempt was made 
on the part of the South to prevent the re-election 
of any abolitionist and especially that of Mr. 
Galusha, and the matter was held of such impor- 



ANTISLAVERY AND MISSIONS. 18T 

tance there, as that to retain in the Board one who 
had avowed such advanced antislavery views was 
declared to be tantamount to the endorsement of 
those views, themselves. We need not enter into 
the merits of the question which thus had to be 
settled. Suffice it to say that as a measure of con- 
ciliation the name of Mr. Galusha was left off the 
new Board. Most persons will now say, perhaps, 
that it was best to exhaust all suitable means of 
conciliation, in the interests of peace and denom- 
inational union. It cannot be denied, hoivever, 
that so far as this proceeding was a concession to 
the South it was a departure from the position of 
strict neutrality. Antislavery men so viewed it, 
and were the more influenced by it, as it seemed 
to them indicative of a tendency to allow in mis- 
sionary management a preponderance of Southern 
influence. 

One result of the action at Baltimore was that 
the American Baptist Antislavery Convention, 
organized the year previous, was made to feel 
itself called upon to enter the field, at least pro- 
visionally, as a missionary organization. A Pro- 
visional Committee was appointed, to receive :funds 
for missionary purposes during the interval of sus- 
pense as to the ultimate course of the Triennial 



188 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

Conyention, and to disburse tlie same as should 
seem most wise. A circular was addressed to the 
missionaries abroad, informing them of the state 
of affairs at home, and assuring them that should 
they find it inconsistent with their views upon the 
question of slavery to continue to receive support 
from the treasury of the Triennial Convention, 
fhey might rely upon it through that of the new 
organization. Dr. and Mrs. Wade responded to 
this in such a way as to place them for the time 
under appointment of the Provisional Committee. 
The antislavery discussion, in its relation to 
missions, had thus assumed a triangular form. In 
the South, brethren were watchful, sensitive to 
every expression among Northern Baptists con- 
demnatory of slavery, especially of all that tended 
to impeach their own Christian consistency, and 
disposed to exact guarantees from those with 
whom thus far they had remained united in mis- 
sionary work. In the North, the Board of the 
Triennial Convention and its supporters were 
seeking to maintain a position of neutrality and 
to keep the missionary organization apart from all 
movements of reform. The Baptist Antislavery 
Convention, holding that this position of neutral- 
ity had been abandoned in concessions made to 



ANTISLAVEBY AND IVHSSIONS. 189 

Southern feeling, afforded a rallying centre for all 
those who were anxious to see the missionary work 
and every other cut loose from all connection 
whatever with slavery and with slaveholders. In 
this three-fold form the agitation went on. In 
1843, the Board of the Triennial Convention, 
replj'ing to communications of the Provisional 
Committee of the Antislavery Convention ad- 
dressed to missionaries, indignantly denied that 
the position of neutrality had been abandoned ; 
and at the annual meeting, held at Philadelphia, 
adopted a preamble and resolutions, introduced by 
Dr. Wm. Hague and seconded by Rev. (now Dr.) 
W. W. Everts, directing that " the circular issued 
by the Acting Board in 1840, asserting their neu- 
trality on all subjects not immediately connected 
with the great work to which they were specially 
appointed, be revised and printed with the report 
of that year, as expressive of the sentiments and 
position of the present Board." In the following 
year the same Board found itself compelled to 
meet questions urged from the opposite quarter, 
and which brought the matter of its relations 
with the South to a crisis. A communication was 
in that year, 1844, addressed by the Baptist State 
Convention of Alabama to the Acting Board of 



190 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

the Triennial Convention — an executive body 
consisting of seventeen members in Boston and 
vicinity, chosen yearly by the General Board, and 
charged with the care of the missions in the interim 
of the annual meeting — containing a preamble 
and resolutions, the object of which was to com- 
pel an express avowal of the position of the Board 
upon one point — the eligibility of slaveholders to 
missionary and other appointments. The Board 
replied through Dr Sharp, its President, and Dr. 
Bolles, its Corresponding Secretary. To the reso- 
lution which declared that " where one party to a 
voluntary compact between Christian brethren is 
not willing to aclaiowledge the entire social 
equality of the other as to all the privileges and 
benefits of the union, nor even to refrain from 
impeachment and annoyance, united efforts be- 
tween such parties, even in the sacred cause of 
Christian benevolence, cease to be agreeable, use- 
ful, or proper," the answer given was, 

In these sentiments we entirely coincide. As a Board we have 
the high conciousness, that it has always been our aim to act in 
accordance therewith. We have never called in question your 
social equality as to all privileges and benefits of the foreign mis- 
sionary union. Nor have we ever employed our official influence 
in impeaching or annoying you. Should Ave ever do this, our 
" united efforts," as you justly say, would " cease to be agreeable, 
useful or proper." 

In reply to the resolution which demanded "the 



AITTISLAVERY AND MISSIONS. 191 

distinct and explicit avowal that slaveholders are 
eligible and entitled to all the privileges and 
immunities of their several unions, and especially 
to receive any agency, mission or other appoint- 
ment which may fall within the scope of their 
operations and duties," the Board said : 

We need not say that slaveholders, as well as non-slave- 
holders, are unquestionably entitled to all the privileges and 
immunities which the constitution of the Baptist General Conven- 
tion permits and grants to its members. We would not deprive 
either of any of the immunities of the mutual contract. In regard, 
however, to any agency mission, or other appointment, no slave- 
holder or non-slaveholder, however large his subscription to for- 
eign missions, or those of the church with which he is connected, 
is on that account entitled to be appointed to any agency or 
mission. The appointing power, for wise and good reasons, has 
been confided to the " Acting Board," they holding themselves 
accountable to the Convention for the discreet and faithful dis- 
charge of this trust. 

Should you say, " The above remarks are not sufficiently 
explicit ; we wish distinctly to know whether the Board would, 
or would not, appoint a slaveholder as a missionary," —before 
directly replying, we would say that in the thirty years in which 
the Board has existed, no slaveholder, to our knowledge, has 
applied to be a missionary. And as we send out no domestics or 
servants, such an event as a missionary taking slaves M'ith him, 
were it morally right, could not in accordance with all our past 
arrangements, or present plans, possibly occur. If, however, any 
one should offer himself as a missionary, having slaves, and insist 
on retaining them as his property, we would not appoint him. 
One thing is certain ; we can never be a party to any arrangement 
which would imply approbation of slavery. 

The third resolution was to the effect that 
should any question arise affecting the morals of 
a candidate for appointment to missionary or other 
service under the Board, " such question should 
not be disposed of, to the grief of the party, with- 



192 NATHANIEL COLYER. 

out ultimate appeal to the particular church of 
which such an individual is a member, as being 
the only body on earth authorized by the Scrip- 
tures, or competent, to consider and decide this 
class of cases." To this the Board replied : 

In regard to our Board, there is no point on which we are more 
unanimously agreed than that of the independence of churches. 
We disclaim all and every pretension to interfere with the disci- 
pline of any church. We disfellowship no one. Nevertheless, 
were a person to offer himself as a candidate for missionary service, 
although commended by his church as in good standing, we should 
feel it our duty to open our eyes on any facts to the disadvantage 
of his moi-al and religious character which should come under our 
observation. And while we should not feel that it was our 
province to excommunicate or discipline a candidate of a doubt- 
ful character, yet we should be unworthy of our trust, if we did 
not, although he were a member of a churqh, reject his application. 
It is for the Board to determine on the prudential, moral, and 
theological fitness of each one who offers himself as a missionary ; 
it is for the church, of which such an one is a member, to decide 
whether he be a fit person to belong to their body. 

Upon the publication of this reply of the Act- 
ing Board, it became at once evident from the 
tone assumed by public sentiment, as indicated in 
the Baptist press of the South, and in the action 
of churches, that further union of the denomin- 
ation in missionary work was not to be expected. 
In the following year. May 8-12, 1845, the South- 
ern Baptist Convention was organized at Augusta, 
Ga., and held its first session. Two boards were 
chosen, one for foreign missions, the other for 
home missions ; the former located at Richmond, 



ANTISLAVERY AND MISSIONS. 193 

the latter at Marion, Ala. Dr. Wm. B. Johnson, 
of South Carolina, was its first President. 

The eleventh triennial meeting of the General 
Convention had been held at Philadelphia in the 
previous year. At this meeting, Dr. Johnson, 
elected President of the Convention at its session 
in Baltimore in 1841, declined a re-election, and 
Dr. Wayland was chosen in his place. Dr. John- 
son gave as his reason for thus declining, that in 
his judgment the next presiding officer of the 
Convention should be a Northern man. In the 
thirty years of the history of this body, he said, 
the President for twenty-one years had been taken 
from the South. As appears above, he was select- 
ed for the first President of the Southern Con- 
vention upon its organization. This separate 
organization by Southern Baptists having broken 
the union before existing, but whose bond had for 
some time previously been growing more and more 
attenuated, it was evident that new measures on 
the part of the North were made necessary. 
Accordingly a special session of the Triennial 
Convention Board was held at Philadelphia, Sep- 
tember 24, 25, 1845. At this meeting the follow- 
ing was adopted : 

13 



194 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

Tn view of the recent missionary organization at the South, and 
the new relations thence arising ; also in view of the imperfections 
in the provisions of oiar present Constitution ; it is expedient for . 
this Board to request the President of the Convention to call an 
extra session of that body, to be held in the Baptist Tabernacle 
in the city of New York, on the third Wednesday in November 
next, at lo o'clock a.m. 

A special session of the Convention was accord- 
ingly called by Dr. Wayland, the President, and 
was held at the time and place fixed by the Board. 
At this session the preliminaries of a new organi- 
zation were effected, and the organization consum- 
mated in the spring of the year following, under 
the name of the American Baptist Missionary 
Union. Two circumstances lent especial interest to 
this event ; the presence of Dr. Adoniram Judson, 
then upon his first visit home, and the liquidation 
of the debt of $40,000, contracted by the Conven- 
tion during the agitations of which we have 
spoken. It was, for American Baptist missions 
in heathen dands, the auspicious beginning of a 
new career. 

This imperfect sketch of events very important 
in the annals of American Baptists would be still 
more incomplete without some reference to the 
history of the antislavery agitation in its connec- 
tion with Home Missions. The American Baptist 
Home Mission Society, organized in 1832, with 



ANTISLAVERY AND MISSIONS. 195 

the American continent as its field of opera- 
tions, was in' a position to feel the effect of this 
agitation certainly not less than the Convention 
by which foreign mission work had been under- 
taken. As it had missionaries in the South 
equally as in the North and West, the question of 
the appointment of slaveholders as such was not 
a suppositious, but an intensely practical one ; 
while in the various relations and work of the 
Society the more general one of fellowship or 
non-fellowship for the institution of slavery, as 
represented by those who maintained or sanctioned 
it, was one ever present. The discussion of the 
subject in the Home Mission Society went for- 
ward, pari passu, with the same in the Triennial 
Convention. The details of the history cannot, 
of course, be here given. The following paper, 
however, written and circulated by a committee 
of the Society appointed at the anniversary in 
Philadelphia in 1844, may representatively indi- 
cate the special questions under debate and the 
general spirit of the Society's proceedings : 

At the late annual meeting of the American Baptist Home 
Mission Society, held in the city of Philadelphia, the question, 
Shall the holding of slaves disqualify a minister for appointment 
as a missionary by this Society? was the subject of protracted 
discussion. The subject is not hypothetical, but practical, inas- 
much as slaveholding missionaries are now under appointment by 



196 NATHANIEL COLVER. 



our Board. The members from the South insisted upon the 
appointment of slaveholders, as the only terms upon which they 
could continue their connection with the Society; while many from 
the North were equally sanguine that they must not be appointed. 
It was the opinion of the Southern members, and of many North- 
ern members (and even of those who were opposed to their 
appointment) that the Constitution in its present form provided 
for their appointment. After much solemn and earnest, though 
kind discussion, it was obvious to all that the difficulty was not in 
feeling, but in conscientious principle, and difficult to be disposed 
of in such a way as to promote the continued co-operation of the 
North and the South in the Society ; and the subject was finally 
disposed of by unanimously passing the following resolution, and 
appointing the following Committee : " Resolved, That a Commit- 
tee, of three from the North, three from the South and three from 
the West, with the President of the Society as Chairman, be 
appointed to take into consideration the subject of an amicable 
dissolution of this Society, or to report such alterations in the 
Constitution as will admit of the co-operation of the brethren 
who cherish conflicting views on the s-ubject of slavery." The 
Committee appointed are Kon. Heman Lincoln, of Massachusetts, 
Rev. J. Gilpatric, of Maine, Rev. Henry Jackson, of Massachu- 
setts, Rev. Pharcellus Church, of New York, Rev. J. Going, of 
Ohio, Rev. Adial Sherwood, of Illinois, Rev. Howard Malcolm, 
of Kentucky, Rev. Wm. B. Johnson, of South Carolina, Rev. J. 
L. Dagg, of Georgia. Rev. J. B. Taylor, of Virginia, Rev. N. 
Colver, of Massachusetts, were added to the Committee. 

After adjournment of the. Society the Committee met and had 
a free and fraternal conversation upon the subject committed to 
them ; and it was unanimously resolved that the Committee should 
endeavor to ascertain the sentiments of the ministers and churches 
of the Baptist denomination in the sections of country in which 
they respectively reside, and report the same to an adjourned 
meeting of the Committee, on the day preceding the next annual 
meeting of the Society, that the Committee may be prepared to 
report to the meeting as the information then obtained shall war- 
rant. The questions on which the Committee desire a distinct 
and laconic answer, are, First, Do you approve of the appoint- 
ment of any man as a missionary of the Society who is a slave- 
holder, or who holds his fellow-man as his property ? Second^ 
Can you suggest any alteration in the Constitution of the Society, 
that will permit the co-operation of brethren who cherish con-- 
flicting views on the subject of slavery ? Will you, at your earli- 
est' convenience, favor the committee with your views in reply 
to these inquiries.'* 

The full execution of this plan was made 



ANTiSLAVERY AND MISSIONS. 197 

unnecessary by the organization of the Southern 
Baptist Convention, with a Home Mission Board, 
in May of the year following, which act separated 
the South from the North in Home Missions as in 
Foreign Missions. The subject nevertheless was 
not by this event at once wholly thrown out of the 
Society. The Committee made a report at the 
meeting of the Society held in 1845, offering how- 
ever no plan for a division of the Society, but 
recommending simply that in case separation should 
take place — as already it substantially had — the 
Society having been planted and chartered at 
the North, and having its Executive Board there, 
the Northern portion should retain the Constitu- 
tion and Charter. The report also recommended 
that the Executive Board should adjust all claims 
on the Society which should be presented by 
Southern members, or auxiliaries, in a liberal 
and conciliatory manner. This course was accord- 
ingly adopted, and the Society left thus with the 
formal organization which it had received at the 
beginning, and which it still retains. 

While the report of this Committee was under 
discussion, Mr. Colver offered an amendment to 
the effect that the Board should not hereafter 
appoint slaveholders as missionaries. The amend- 



198 NATHANIEL COLVEK. 

ment was first adopted, but the question then 
recurnng upon the adoption of the report as a 
whole, new objection arose to the amendment, 
which was held by some to be unconstitutional. 
The vote adopting was reconsidered and finally 
decided in the negative. On the next day of the 
session, Mr. Colver moved to amend the report 
by adding a resolution that it was inexpedient for 
the Executive Board to appoint any person a mis 
sionary who held or advocated the holding of his 
fellow-men in slavery. Dr. Elisha Tucker, of 
New York, opposing the amendment, urged the 
fact that by late events the question had ceased 
to be a practical one. He offered, further, to 
assure . the Society, on the strength of pledges 
made to him to this effect, " that the Board would 
not appoint any man missionary who held property 
in his fellow-man." Dr. Maginnis, of the Theo- 
logical Seminary <xt Hamilton, seconded Dr. 
Tucker in this. Upon this Mr. Colver arose and 
said that " on the strength of these assurances, 
which he had no doubt were made in all sincerity, 
he would withdraw his motion to amend." Thus 
also, in the Home Mission Society the conclusion of 
a matter full of the elements of agitation and divi- 
sion was at last reached. 



ANTISLAVEEY AND MISSIONS. 199 

There remained, even after the question of a 
connection of the North with slavery, either in 
Home Missions or in Foreign Missions, had been 
practically decided by the separation of the South 
in its independent organizations for both these 
ends, a considerable number of Antislavery Bap- 
tists who felt that both the Convention and the 
Home Mission Society ought to declare themselves 
against the institution by express action. By 
these the Society which took the name of the 
American Baptist Free Mission Society, was 
organized. With this movement Mr. Colver, to 
the disappointment of some among his antislavery 
associates, never connected himself. He regarded 
the work of missions, both at home and abroad, 
so far as Northern Baptists are concerned, as now 
practically separated from all connection with 
slavery. He saw now no reason for disturbing 
his own relations with the body of the denomina- 
tion, while feeling, also, that all possible should 
be done to promote union, and the larger strength 
and efficiency which union gives. Some of his 
thoughts, bearing in these directions, are given in 
a letter written to Rev. Archibald Kenj^on, in 
1844, when as yet the questions to which we 



200 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

have referred were still pending. We take a brief 
extract: 

I am not satisfied with' the resolution which was passed in the 
Triennial Convention, but with the ultimate result, together with 
the effect of the position of things in the Home Mission Society, 
I hope I shall be satisfied. A split between the North and the 
South is inevitable ; and if so, how is that split to stop short of 
the Triennial Convention ? The South are sanguine, and I think 
the North will be as sanguine. The South will not co-operate, 
unless the North will admit that slaveholding does not disqualify 
the minister to preach, and such admission will not be made. I 
am told that the members of the old Board will give a prompt 
and decisive answer to our question, adverse to slavery ; and if 
they do, they will soon have the same question to dispose of in 
that Board. Believe me, my dear brother, I am blind to no 
movement. I have no disposition to look back, or to go back. 
The Provisional Committee will not be given up until its work is 
done. Brother Wade will be taken care of. We shall most 
strictly adhere to the command of God to the prophets ; " Let 
them return unto thee, but return not thou unto them." We shall 
hold on to the rope till all is right. I regret that by the new 
organization you are not with us to help, as I think your position 
is such as will prevent your usefulness, both in the cause of mis- 
sions and in getting either the ministers or the churches right, and 
I fear somewhat interfere with and hinder us, but I hope not much. 
I shall endeavor not to hinder you from doing all the good you 



The reader will scarcely need to have pointed 
out to him the indication afforded by this extract, 
that Mr. Colver confided in the brethren with 
whom, as leaders of the denomination, he had been 
so long and so intimately associated, and in the 
denomination itself. He never doubted that the 



ANriSLAVERY AND MISSIONS. 201 

body of his Baptist brethren in the North would 
ultimately stand with him on the great question, 
which, to his own convictions, w^as so vital. This 
faith was prophetic, and God permitted him to 
live until the prophecy had become history. 

Mr. Colver's personal course as regards this 
question of the relation of slavery to missions 
was characterized by the strong conviction, the 
out-spoken frankness, the bold and prompt action, 
natural to him in all positions. Persuaded as he 
was that more radical measures were called for, 
in the societies, than the majority of his brethren 
approved, he was by this circumstance placed in 
an attitude which made him liable to misappre- 
hension, both in his opinions and in his motives. 
He was the leader of a dissenting minority, whose 
course to more conservative minds might easily 
seem often captious and disorganizing. That his 
zeal for what he felt to be right never carried him 
too far, he himself would have been the last to 
claim ; that he was never a stickler for trivialities, 
nor animated by the small ambitions of a party 
leader, those who differed from him most widely 
would have readily conceded. His course in remain- 
ing with the body of the denomination, and in niain^ 
taining those organizations in Christian enterurise 



202 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

upon which so much depended, and which had al- 
ready been so largely blessed in their work, show- 
ed that he could distinguish, in the movement of 
a reform, between the essential and the incidental ; 
that he could wait for the operation of tendencies ; 
and that he had faith in the revolutionizing effect 
of accepted principles, developing "first the blade, 
then the ear, then the full corn in the ear." 



i 



SOUTH ABINGTOX — DETROIT. 203 



CHAPTER X. 



SOUTH ABIN GTON.— DETROIT.— \%c^2-i^t^b. 

We pass lightly over the causes which led to 
Mr. Colver's resignation of his pastorate in Bos- 
ton, and his removal to South Abington. It was 
natural that the state of his relations with the 
man who had been chiefly instrumental in bring- 
ing him to Boston, and upon whom in all his work 
there he mainly relied, should seem to him very 
important ; and while these relations were always 
friendly, still, when they became less enth'ely har- 
monious, it is not surprising that out of this should 
grow a feeling tending to unsettle him. A -city 
pastorate, besides, is extremely exacting. So far 
as readiness to meet the demands of special occa- 
sions is concerned, or activity in all the miscellany 
of work falling to one in such a position, Mr. Col- 
ver could never be wanting. The purely extem- 
poraneous preacher, however, especially if a man 



204 NATHANIEL CQLVEE. 

without special culture, finds himself, in a pastor- 
ate of this kind, placed at some disadvantage. It 
is remarkable that even for the period of thirteen 
years, Mr. Colver surmounted this difficulty so 
well, nor, v/hen. at length he resigned his pastor- 
ate, had his power waned so as to be noticeable in 
any special way. Some diversion of mind there 
had been to other pursuits, such as those of me- 
chanical invention. It is unnecessary to go into 
details. Every one knows how in even the most 
successful pastorate a time comes at last when a 
change, though not made imperative, is plainly 
best. It is highly creditable to a man in this or in 
any other position, when he has sense enough to 
see and firmness enough to recognize the fact, 
when such becomes the fact, and when with all 
his other gifts he is found not to be wanting in 
what is sometimes called "the retiring gift." 

Before leaving the subject of the Boston pastor- 
ate, however, we may be allowed one other refer- 
ence to the visit to England, of which we have 
already made brief mention. The reader will be 
interested we think in the first letter sent by Mr. 
Colver to his wife, after arriving out. We copy 
a considerable portion of it accordingly. It bears 
date, "Bristol, England, May 25, 1840." 



SOUTH ABINGTON — DETIIOIT. 205 

Through the mercy of him who commands the winds and the 
waves, I am once more on dry land, on this side the great water, and 
I improve the first moment to acquaint you with the Lord's good- 
ness to a poor worm of the dust. We were fourteen days on the 
passage. We had no very bad storm, but a good deal of stormy, 
blowing weather, so much so as to keep me sick all the way. Five 
days I was confined to my berth, and the rest of the time I was so 
unwell as to enjoy almost nothing at all. After the second day at 
sea my cough entirely left me, and has not yet returned. 

Our voyage on some accounts was pleasant, on others exceed- 
ingly unpleasant. We had a good captain and good accommoda- 
tions ; but one continued scene of wine-drinking and merriment, 
except on the Sabbath. Never was I more sick of the world. 
What can be worse than to be imprisoned with those who fear not 
God ? The first Sabbath almost all were sick in their berths. The 
second Sabbath brother Galusha preached, but I was too sick to 
enjoy it. The weather prevented the captain from getting the 
sun the last two days but one, and we got about an hundred and 
fifty miles too far to the North, and the first land we saw, was on 
the west coast of Ireland. We lost nearly one day's sail. 

It was beautiful, as we came up Bristol Channel, to look off 
into Devonshire. No garden could be in a better state of culti- 
vation than is the \yhole country, even to the tops of the highest 
hills ; nothing more picturesque than the fields divided off by the 
thorn-hedges. 

We got our trunks through the Custom House about one o'clock 
Sabbath morning, and yesterday heard two very good sermons from 
Elder Roberts, at King's Street Chapel. His people admire him 
much, and I was well entertained ; and yet I felt that there was 
in it a great lack, and if such is the general preaching of Great 
Britain, the fact that they have no revivals is well accounted for. 
In the morning his theme was the commandment of Joseph con- 
cerning his bones (Gen. 1, 25). He made an excellent apology for 
Joseph, and I have no doubt that his congregation were perfectly 
satisfied that Joseph had good reasons for what he did ; but I 
doubt whether any one of his congregation, saint or sinner, sus- 
pected that the preacher had come to them with any message from 
the Lord, or that he intended to urge any of God's claims upon 
them. 



206 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

He received us very kindly in the vestiy, where he retired after 
preaching. He mentioned us very kindly in his afternoon prayer, 
but they have an arbitrary rule not to ask strangers to pray or 
preach. One of his brethren took us in charge, and vi^ent with us 
in the afternoon to Broadmead Chapel, where Robert Hall used 
to preach. Here we heard what might be called anything but a 
sermon, from a young man whose name I do not get. The brother 
took us home with him to tea. His table was well set out with 
wine-bottles whevi we arrived, and he pressed us hard to drink, 
but we declined. He seemed surprised ; said his minister drank, 
and often said, when he came to see him, " Well, brother, I must 
have a little brandy-and-water." In giving my reasons for declin- 
ing, I gave him a little temperance lecture. He thought it might 
do in America, but could never go here. He was, however, very 
kind, and to-day is to show us the city. 

Tuesday, 26. We have been looking at Bristol, and to-m&rrow 
start for London. It has rained every day since we arrived here, 
and is only pleasant a few hours toward night. I have been better 
since landing, but I am very weak, my mouth and throat are full 
of canker and to-day I cough some. I think I have taken a little 
cold. We have seen what we could about Bristol. The scenery 
is very fine, but you know I am not good at description, and so 
will not attempt it. We have been into the Giant's Cave, two 
hundred and fifty feet under ground, and rode once around the 
city. Vegitation is in its life, now. Pears are about the size of 
an ounce-ball, and the hawthorn is in full blossom. We visited 
Elder Roberts to-day, and took breakfast with him. He is full of 
Antislavery. We had a pleasant interview. We also visited 
Bristol Academy. It is now in a flourishing condition. We were 
received by Mr. Cusp, the principal, with great kindness, and 
shown the rooms and library ; the latter containing eight or ten 
thousand volumes. We saw the concordance used by Bunyan 
when in Bedford Jail, and many other antique relics. 

Bristol contains about thirty thousand inhabitants. Its streets 
are narrow, crooked, and dirty in wet weather. The doors open 
direct from the sidewalk, without any ascent. The people seem 
almost to live in the street. The ladies all walk in iron clogs ; an 
iron ling, about four inches in circumference, fastened under the 



SOUTH ABINGTON — DETEOIT. 207 

bottom of their feet, which elevates them about an inch, and gives 
them a clumsy, awkward gait. They make a dreadful clacking as 
they go. They wear these to keep their feet from the wet, and 
perhaps to save shoe-leather. Women and boys, and some men, 
bring their commodities to market in large baskets hung on each 
side of poor, miserable donkeys, but little larger than a goat, — 
but these are all little things. 

You must make my love good to all the dear brethren and 
sisters. O, how I wa-nt to see them all ! I do not cease to pray 
for them. I not only make it a point to meet them at ten o'clock, 
as the time is here, but most of the nights I keep awake till twenty 
minutes past one in the morning, so as to be engaged at the same 
time that ten o'clock arrives there, and I assure you I find great 
pleasure in it. O ! how sweet is prayer ; and how sweet the fellow- 
ship of the saints, I cannot express how much I love that dear 
church. I love them for the truth's sake. I love them for the slave's 
sake. I love them for their kindness to me and mine, and above all, I 
love them for Christ's sake. I pray God to restore my health 
and permit me to make them some return for their kindness ; at 
least to unburden my heart of its love and gratitude to them. 
Tell brother Cormack to read to them, as from me, the seven first 
verses of the second chapter of Colossians. 

Bristol, like other portions of England, bus 
changed since the time when this letter was 
written, and, although social customs in that 
country are singularly averse to any thing like in- 
novation, there has been some change even there. 
Mr. Colver bore his testimony as a temperance 
man wherever he went in England, and not Avith- 
out effect. The movement there in favor of re- 
form, in this particular, which has gained some 
strength since that time, he is believed to have 
had some share in originating. Some examples 



208 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

of his method in bearing his testimony as a tem- 
perance man are recalled, and may here be cited : 

Upon one occasion, being present at a dinner 
where most of the guests were ministers and 
strong antislavery men, some one remarked with 
much emphasis that he did not believe it possible 
for a man to be a Christian and yet hold slaves. 
Mr. Colver at once replied that he found Christian 
men often doing things which surprised him. 

" For example," said he, with a significant allu- 
sion to the abundant wines on the table, "how 
can Christian men encourage by their example a 
practice so pernicious as the use of intoxicating 
drinks?" 

The rebuke was not without effect ; for having 
been invited to meet nearly the same company at 
another dinner given soon after, he had the pleas- 
ure of observing that the wine did not appear. 
On another occasion, being invited by the minister 
of a chapel where he was present upon a Sabbath 
morning to go with him into the vestry after ser^ 
vice, he did so, and as was then customary was 
offered a glass of wine. Of course he refused, but 
added, addressing the minister: 

" I noticed in your congregation, this morning, 
a lady of fine personal appearance, who has been 



SOUTH ABINGTON — DETEOIT. 209 

recovered out of the degradation of confirmed 
habits of intoxication. Do you think it is right 
for the shepherd to lead where it is death for the 
sheep to go ? " 

His hope, as regards restored health, was in a 
great measure realized, and when, after some 
months' absence, he returned to his charge in Bos- 
ton, it was with physical energy much renewed. 

In the year 1851, Mr. Colver visited the West, 
and had, as is believed, his first view of what was 
to be the scene of his later life and labor. Among 
his papers we find very brief notes of this journey, 
which we copy just as they stand : 

ytine 2nd. Started, with my wife and Sarah, for Illinois. 
Passed through Rutland to Granville. 

June ■^rd. Went to Whitehall. 

yune /\th. Went to Champlain. 

yune ^th. Preached in Malone. 

yune ttk. Went to Fort Covington ; preached in the evening 
at the Methodist house. 

yune "ith. Returned to Malone, and thence to Ogdensburg. 

yune %th. Preached for Bro. Webb afternoon and evening 
attended the morning prayer-meeting — a good meeting. 

yune c^th. Started for Buffalo. 

yune loth. At Lewiston. 

ytine 11th. Arrived at Detroit ; went to Mount Clemens. 

yune 12th. Returned to Detroit. 

yujie I2,th. New Buffalo. 

yicne isth. Preached at Elgin, Illinois, morning and evening, 
for brother Joslyn. 

ymie 20th. Preached at Chemung, from 2 Cor,, v, 9. Good 
14 



210 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

assembly ; good attention. On hearing of my arrival, the people 
turned out and put a temporary floor, pulpit and seats into a little 
and unfinished house of worship, and made it quite convenient. 

June 2ist. Saturday, P. M., in company with brother Tobey, 
visited the brethren and sisters in Chemung. Called on seven 
families. A strong desire was expressed by nearly all to have a 
church formed. 

This is but a fragment ; as is, indeed, the case 
with all his personal notes, — a man too busy to 
record much of his own doings, or even of his 
thoughts. 

On the 30th of March, 1852, Mr. Colver, having 
closed his work at Tremont Temple, with the 
exception of his farewell sermon, fixed for the next 
Sabbath, sent away his goods to Abington, to 
which place he was about to remove. On that 
same night the Temple was burned to the ground. 
The farewell sermon was preached at Marlboro 
Chapel, one of those places in which he had first 
met a Boston audience. Were there not, in the 
results of a minister's work, something more solid 
than brick or stone, and were outward conditions 
exclusive proofs of permanent success, he might 
have had reason to feel that his thirteen years of 
toil had been thrown away. That it was not so, 
however, was proved in the rapidity with which 
the walls of the new Temple rose, and has contin- 
ued in process of demonstration ever since, in the 



SOUTH ABINGTON — DETROIT. 211 

growth and power of the church under the pastors 
who have succeeded him, and notably, smce the 
present pastor, Dr, Fulton, came to the place he 
fills so well. 

South Abington, to which church Mr. Colver 
had received and accepted a call, is about twenty- 
one miles from Boston, on the old Colony Railroad 
from that city to Plymouth. From one fact in its 
history the Baptist church there would seem to 
have afforded an example of the signal changes in 
public sentiment upon one pregnant subject, 
wrought within the period we have been consid- 
ering. The church was organized in 1822. To 
the deeds of pews in its house of worship given 
to purchasers, there was a condition then affixed, 
which now reads strangely : 

To have and to hold the same to the said his heirs and 

assigns, forever, upon express conditions, and not otherwise, that 

the said, his heirs and assigns, shall not suffer the pew or 

any part thereof to be conveyed to, or occupied by, or in any man- 
ner come into the possession of any colored person or persons, 
any one classed with him or them, and that the house is to be a 
Calvanistic Baptist meeting-house forever. 

This clause remained in force until the year 
1836, when to the credit of the church it was 
stricken out, although even at that time mote or 
less of the spirit wdiich had ortginally dictated it 
remained in the body. That, however, an anti«- 



212 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

slavery man so pronounced and so well-known as 
Nathaniel Colver should, in 1852, have been called 
as pastor is proof su£6cient that by this time the 
church had left its old ground, and taken one at 
once more tenable and more honorable. Were 
further proof needed, it might be found in the 
fact that during Mr. Colver's pastorate of one year 
he was allowed to comprehend in his ministry the 
principles of reform as well as the doctrines of 
salvation, while throughout the year the union 
and mutual love of pastor and people were with- 
out a jar. We find it written that, " On Fast day 
he preached to his people one of the most radical 
sermons to which they ever listened. I did not 
hear it," adds the writer, liimself a radical of the 
radicals, " but was informed that it cut them up, 
root and branch.' I have heard him myself, in 
some of his sermons, preach to them the true Gos- 
pel in a way they never heard before. He has 
recently been on a tour in Canada, among the 
refugees. Since his return, he has given quite an 
interesting account of his journey. He spoke of 
meeting Samuel J. May, and told his people he 
supposed they all knew who he was. ' If you do 
not, it is time you did.' He has given two lectures, 
here, on the temperance question, since he came 



SOUTH ABINGTON — DETROIT. 213 

among us, but no lecture has he devoted wholly to 
Antislavery or Free Soil. Most of his labors, how- 
ever, are devoted to preaching the Gospel of the 
Baptist denomination, which is more sectarian than 
reformatory. Mr. Colver is not what he should be, 
but I consider him far in advance of his church ; 
and I cannot but hope he will do good here, in 
bringing them to a more healthy state, as it 
respects their duty to humanity and the reforms 
of the day." 

The writer of this letter, which was printed in 
Mr. Garrison's paper, had himself left the Baptist 
church in South Abington, on account of what 
he deemed its delinquencies in matters of reform. 
Had Mr. Colver done the same, he would doubt- 
less, in the estimation of his critic, have become 
" what he should be." In Mr. Colver 's own esti- 
mation what he should be was, first of all and 
above all, a minister of Christ, preaching "the 
Gospel of the Baptist denomination." 

We must not dwell upon this brief pastorate. 
Its history is summed up in a few notes by Mr. 
Colver himself, which we copy as we find them : 

April 2nd, 1853. Attended Covenant meeting for the last time 
in South Abington. Three told their experience. 

Sunday, 3. Preached my farewell sermon, from Matt. xi. 28. 
Doctrine, " The cure of the world's xvoe found in Christ. 



214 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

Three baptized, and communion. It was a meeting mingled with 
joy and pain ; joy in the grace of God, but pain at our separa- 
tion. I here record with pleasure that the year spent in Abington, 
so far as my intercourse with the church and people is concerned, 
was one of unmingled pleasure, a pleasure and love undisturbed 
by one unkind word or feeling, as I know, and a year, from its 
begining to its close, almost constantly attended by a gentle revival 
influence. For this precious year which I and my family have 
enjoyed in the service, and love, and kindness of this dear people, 
the Lord be praised. Here I raise an Ebenezer, hereafter to be 
regarded with grateful emotions of thanksgiving and praise. 

In this connection lie speaks of a pecuniary loss, 
occasioned by tlie failure in business of one whom 
he had trusted. He says : " Well, I will not fret, 
though the loss is severe. ' It is the Lord, let him 
do what seemeth him good.' I have ever prayed 
that if God saw I had a dollar which I did not 
hold and use as his, he would take it away from 
me. I receive this as an answer to prayer. I 
will humble myself, and try to guard better against 
that covetousness and selfishness of my heart, 
which has called for this rebuke." 

In April, 1853, Mr. Colver accepted a call from 
the first Baptist church in Detroit, Michigan. Of 
his arrival in that city he speaks in a brief note 
found among his papers. His journey had been 
. by way of Buffalo and Lake Erie ; " Relieved 
from the sickness of the wave, I took a carriage 
to brother Glover's, but found they had gone to 



SOUTH ABESrGTOX — DETROIT. 215 

the covenant meeting. Brother Kendrick soon 
came in and gave me a most cordial greeting. He 
took me to the meeting, where they had just been 
praying for my safe arrival. I have prayed God to 
come with me, or prevent my coming. If he 
come not, I am sure I have come in vain, and that 
the long and patient waiting of this people has 
been destined to be paid with disappointment. O 
Lord, come with me ! " 

The writer of these pages, was most unexpect- 
edly to himself, present on the Sabbath morning 
when the new pastor appeared before his people 
in the first sermon of his stated ministry there. 
The church had been for a year without a pastor, 
although acceptably supplied by Eev. Geo. W. 
Harris of the "Michigan Christian Herald." Mr. 
Colver's coming had been anticipated with great 
interest, and his appearance in the pulpit on that 
Sabbath morning was most welcome. The long 
years of strenuous toil had begun to tell upon the 
stalwart frame ; and the old fire, if not cooled, 
was in a degree mellowed. If there was any 
diminution of the energy of former years, or of 
the anunated eloquence which so many had 
admired, there was none in the tenderness, the 



216 NATHAiq-IEL COLVEE. 

Scriptujal richness, the solid excellence, which 
had been qualities equally marked. 

No special revival marked the three years of 
Mr. Colver's ministry in Detroit. The additions 
by baptism, during this period were seventeen ; a 
considerable number also by letter ; — the church 
numbering, when he left it in March, 1856, four 
hundred and fifty. One pleasing memorial of his 
cordial participation with brethren of other 
denominations in the common work, we find in 
the following brief note : 

Detroit, May lo, 1853. 

Rev. and Dear Sir : It becomes my very pleasant duty to 
transmit to you the following resolution, which was unanimously 
adopted at the annual meeting of the Detroit Sunday School 
Union, heJd in the basement of the First Baptist Church, on 
Monday evening, May gth. 

Resolved. That the thanks of the Union are due, and the same 
are hereby tendered to the Rev N. Colver, for the able and inter- 
esting discourse delivered by him at the meeting of the Union in 
the First Presbyterian Church, on the evening of Sunday May 8th. 

I also have the very great pleasure to announce to you that you 
were duly elected President of this Union for the ensuing year. 

Thos. M. Cook, 

Rev. N. C01.VER. Secretary. 

In a letter referring to Mr. Colver's pastorate 
in Detroit, Dea. Rollin C. Smith, now of Omaha, 
Nebraska, says : " His ministry there was marked 
by his characteristic sincerity, and uncompromisr 
ing antagonism to all that opposed itself against 
God, whether manifested in the unscriptural 
teachings of others, the ungodly and indifferent 



SOUTH ABINGTON — DETEOIT. 217 

lives of Christians, or in the open viohition of the 
teachings of God's word. In him the cause of 
Temperance had an unflinching friend, the cause 
of the oppressed an out-spoken, persistent advo- 
cate. To my mind, his chief excellence as a 
preacher consisted in his deep convictions of the 
truth of the Gospel, and his wonderful power in 
enforcing these convictions upon the minds of his 
hearers. In the social meetings of the church, 
his expositions of the Scriptures were peculiarly 
rich and instructive. Those who were present at 
these meetings were indeed a privileged class. I 
love to think of his earnest, faith-inspiring prayers. 
How full of Christ they were ; how warm in their 
zeal for the growth of Christian graces in the 
hearts of God's children. How full of compassion 
for sinners. Mr. Colver's interest in young men 
just entering the ministry was peculiarly strong 
and tender. He was always ready with a judicious 
word of counsel and cheer for them. Of his social 
qualifications I need not speak. Those who have 
enjoyed his acquaintance can testify to his ready 
wit and genial humor, while those who were so 
happy as to be ranked amongst his friends, can 
never forget his ready sympathy, on every occa- 



218 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

sion, either of joy or of sorrow. The fragrance of 
his memorj is truly sweet." 

The period of this residence in Detroit was ren^ 
dered memorable by one incident of sad and 
tender interest, the death of his daughter and 
youngest child, Sarah. She died July 1, 1854, of 
cholera, after only fourteen hours illness. Mr. 
Colver was from home at the time ; returning next 
day, he entered the room where she was lying, 
and was so affected by the sight of his dead child 
that he fell senseless to the floor. The numerous 
testimonials of admiration and regard for her, and 
of sympathy for himself and family, which he and 
they received, proved that beyond the limits of 
her own home this interesting young person had 
gained the praise of more than ordinary excellence. 
'^ She always appeared to me," wrote Dr. Neale, 
"as a girl of most amiable disposition, and one 
who, from her natural good sense, education and 
piety, would be a great comfort and support to 
you in future years. My daughter, who was in 
school with her, always spoke of her as a perfect 
girl, and I was in the habit of commending her to 
my own children, as a most worthy example of 
female loveliness and consistency of Christian 
character." Dr. Stow wrote ; " My acquaintance 



SOUTH ABINGTON — DETROIT. 219 

with her was limited, but it was sufficient to con- 
vince me that she was a a young lady of uncom.- 
mon worth. This opinion was confirmed by the 
testimony of many who knew her better." A 
correspondent in South Abington wrote: "Al- 
though she has been away from us a little more 
than a year, yet her spirit has been with us, and 
when the news of her death reached us, we 
seemed to miss her on the Sabbath from the house 
of God, from the Sabbath school, class meetings, 
and meetings for prayer. She was always cheer- 
ful, and her presence and smiles gave a charm and 
chaste relish to life's sweetest pleasures." These 
testimonials were comforting to the bereaved heart, 
as also the apt words of suggestion from brethren 
in the ministry, in which was offered the same cup 
of consolation which Mr. Colver himself had so 
often presented to others. " The thought has 
been present to my mind since hearing of your 
bereavement," wrote Dr. Olmstead, "how often 
you have yourself been a minister of consolation 
to earth's sorrowing ones. The same arguments 
and motives to resignation and upholding faith 
in God's government, character and providence, 
which have proved so sure a solace to them, you 
can well address to your own heart." 



220 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

Sarah was born in Kingsbury, N. Y., while hei 
father and family resided there. At fourteen 
years of age she was baptized, in company with 
several other happy converts, in the fellowship 
of the Tremont Temple Church, in Boston, adorn- 
ing her Christian profession, ever after, in a con- 
versation eminently godly, and a life beautifully 
well-ordered. She was buried in Elmwood Cem- 
etery, at Detroit, but in 1868, fourteen years after, 
her father had her remains taken up and brought- 
to Chicago, where they were placed beside those 
of her mother in Oakwood Cemetery, near this 
city. In a few lines expressive of his emotions on 
this occasion. Dr. Colver represents the daughter 
as thus addressing the parent to whose side she 
had once more come to nestle : 

Dear mother, do you know I 've come 
To nestle at your side once more, 
To share with you your peaceful home 
And slumber sweetly as of yore ? 

Earth's storms are hushed. Hail, sweet release 
From toil, and care, and grief, and pain. 
Here, mother, we will rest in peace, 
Till -God shall wake us up again. 

O yes, mother, he said he 'd come 

And take us to himself again. 

Delightful morning ! Happy home ! 

From death's long sleep, we '11 rise and reign. 



SOUTH ABINGTON — DETROIT. 221 

After four years' service in Detroit, Mr. Colver 
yielded to the earnest solicitations of the First 
3aptist Church in Cincinnati, and in 1856 became 
their pastor. He left behind him in Detroit, as in 
each other field of labor so occupied since entering 
the ministry, a church warmly attached to him, 
and grateful for the inspiration and impulse found 
ahke in his public teaching and his personal 
example. 



222 NATHANIEL COLYEE. 



CHAPTER XI. 



CINCINNA TI. — 1856-1861. 

From the period of Mr. Colver's pastorate in 
Cincinnati, may be dated his more active interest 
in a work which to the end of his life more and 
more occupied his thoughts and his energies. 
The Fairmount Theological Seminary being then 
still in existence at Cincinnati, he interested him- 
self much in its affairs. But his mind became 
increasingly intent upon views of his own touch- 
ing the education of ministers, and increasingly 
watchful for opportunities for putting those views 
in a way of practical realization. The leading 
point in these views was, that both the theology 
and the preaching of our ministry needed to be 
made more thoroughly biblical. He believed that 
he perceived a drifting toward excessive regard 
for mere theological systems, upon the one hand, 
and toward loose popular tendencies upon the other. 



CINCINNATI. 223 

He did not undervalue learning^ in its connection 
with ministerial preparation, nor because himself 
not a scholar did he adopt the prejudice that a 
minister must necessarily be so much less a true 
minister in proportion as he is cultivated and 
scholarly. But he distrusted all tendencies, what- 
ever the form they took, which carried the minister 
or the private Christian away from the Bible, or 
encouraged reliance upon aught else but the word 
of God, as either a guide to faith or a source of in- 
spiration. His wish, growing ever more ardent 
in the last years of his life, was to set in motion, 
before he should die, a reacting tendency toward 
the more biblical methods of that older ministry 
with which his own earlier associations had been 
identified. 

While in Cincinnati Mr Colver sought to realize 
his convictions upon this subject, at least in some 
degree, by gathering about him a class of young 
brethren preparing for the ministry, and giving 
them instruction upon these points, especially, 
what to preachy and how to preach. The suspension 
of Fairmount Seminary made this a work still more 
needful, and placed under his care a very inter- 
esting class. After his removal from Cincinnati, 
he gave himself to this work more and more, as 



224 NATHANIEL COLYKH. 

we shall see. One of those converted under his 
ministry at Cincinnati, and subsequently a student 
with him in theology, was Rev. A. C. Hubbard, 
pastor now of the Baptist Church in Danbury, 
Connecticut. From him we have received remi- 
niscences of Mr. Colver, and of his labors in Cin- 
cinnati, which have so much interest and value 
that we copy them almost entire : 

" My acquaintance with Nathaniel Colver be- 
gan about the year 1855 (1856), when I was a 
youth of sixteen. The First Baptist Church of 
Cincinnati had called him to their pastorate, and 
after a careful survey of the field he had accepted 
their invitation. For the previous ten years they 
had enjoyed the labors of Rev. Daniel Shepardson, 
a man of liberal culture and indefatigable energy^ 
By the most untiring efforts, he had succeeded in 
erecting an excellent house of worship. It was 
located in a sparsely-settled district of the city, 
although since then the population has increased 
so rapidly in that quarter that the site is one of 
the best in the city for church purposes. After 
the resignation of Mr. Shepardson, the church be- 
came somewhat dispirited and discouraged. The 
members of the church were poor and uninflu- 
ential. They were chiefly hard-working mechan- 



CINCINNATI. 225 

ics, or tradesmen not very firmly established in 
business. When the name of Mr. Colver was 
mentioned it seemed to many a hazardous under- 
taking to call such a man to the pastorate, neces- 
sitating the ofPer of a much larger salary than they 
had been accustomed to raise. After careful 
deliberation the call was extended, and in due 
time ^Ir. Colver was on the ground. 

"I remember well my first impression of the 
man. His imposing appearance in the pulpit, and 
the majestic manner in which he conducted the 
services, impressed me deeply. He had occasion, 
the first time I heard him, to request the choir to 
omit one or two stanzas of a hymn. He spoke in 
a loud, commanding tone, much in the same manner 
that a military man issues an order to his troops, 
and with such a conscious sense of authority, that 
I remember turning to a friend by my side and 
saying, ' Well, he intends to be master here, any 
how.' At this time Mr. Colver was in his prime 
as a public speaker. True, he was sixty years of 
age, but his powerful physical frame had not suc- 
cumbed in the least to the pressure of years. He 
was full of vigor, and his natural force not one 
whit abated. His intellectual strength was some- 
thing marvelous. He had the logical faculty to a 

IS 



226 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

remarkable degree, and his memory was stored 
with an inexhaustible stock of anecdote, and 
quaint and pithy illustration. He was especially 
rich in expounding the Scriptures. If such a 
thing be possible, I think he must have been an 
expository genius. I have never heard a man who 
was able to pour such a flood of light on the 
sacred page as he. His sermons reminded one of 
one of those immense overshot water-wheels, 
which we occasionally see upon an old-fashioned 
country mill-site. When the water is turned on, 
the wheel turns very slowly at first, but gathering 
strength at each revolution, it increases in velocity 
and power, until it reaches its maximum and rolls 
on with mighty sweep until the work is done. So 
it was with Mr. Colver's preaching. He never 
aroused or startled one at first, after the manner 
of ambitious but little men, but gradually he gath- 
ered strength, as the inspiration of his theme 
poured upon him like a flood, until his sonorous 
and majestic eloquence became resistless, and 
when the end was reached, the hearer knew he 
had a clean grist, the finest flour from the finest 
wheat. 

" Those who have heard Nathaniel Colver preach 
in his best days will not be surprised to learn that 



CINCINNATI. 227 

his ministrations in Cincinnati attracted great 
attention from the first. Being a border city, 
Cincinnati had long been the scene of intensest 
excitement on the slavery question. The prevailing 
feeling was favorable to Southern institutions, but 
there was a strong antislavery sentiment in certain 
quarters, which was active and aggressive. Prob- 
ably in no city in the Union were the lines more 
closely drawn, or the issues more clearly defined, 
than in Cincinnati. Multitudes of good people 
held the epithet of ' abolitionist ' in the same 
abhorrence that they did the words ' infidel,' or 
'horse-thief,' or 'murderer.' There had been 
numerous distui'bances on various occasions in the 
past, when the friends of slavery used the most 
effective arguments against free speech and a free 
press by mobbing prominent antislavery men, and 
throwing their newspaper presses into the Ohio 
river. 

" On the other hand, the underground railroad 
did as good business in forwarding runaway slaves 
to Canada from Cincinnati, as from any other city 
in the land. There were certain prominent anti- 
slavery men who did not hesitate to declare that 
they would violate the odious Fugitive Slave Law 
whenever opportunities offered. These bold utter- 



228 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

ances tended to inflame the minds of the partisans 
of slavery, so that the lines on the vexed question 
were very closely drawn. Mr. Colver had hardly 
commenced his ministrations, when he publicly 
announced himself an abolitionist. The words 
" antislavery " and " free-soiler," by which many 
freedom-loving but timid men sought to designate 
their position, were too feeble for him. It was the 
fashion of a certain class of antislavery men, who 
w:ould have no taint of suspicion rest upon their 
orthodoxy, to disclaim any sympathy or co-opera- 
tion with the school of abolitionism of which 
William Lloyd Garrison was the most noted rep- 
resentative. But Mr. Colver disdained anything 
that looked at all like an apology for his position. 
He was willing that whatever odium attached to 
that name, " abolitionist," coming from whatever 
quarter, should attach to himself. He made no ex- 
planations or apologies, but planted himself 
squarely on the platform of abolitionisni, and left 
the consequences to take care of themselves. The 
result of all was that he took at once a leading posi- 
tion among the ministers of the city. The old First 
Church never before, or since, numbered so many 
able and thoughtful men in its congregation as then. 
Mr. Colver announced a series of Sabbath evening 



CINCINNATI. 229 

lectures on "Slavery as a Sin." The house was 
crowded to overflowing from the very first. The 
lectures were marvelous specimens of compact 
logic and burning eloquence. Mr. Colver spoke 
with all the earnestness of profound conviction. 
He was by turns closely argumentative and ener- 
getically denunciatory. He was humorous, pa- 
thetic. At times, his irony cut like a Damascus 
blade ; at others, it tore in pieces and burned his 
opponents as when the lightning splinters an oak. 
" I shall never forget one episode in these lec- 
tures. Mr. Colver took the position that the 
Fugitive Slave Law was a flagrant outrage upon 
the laws of God, and as such, Christian men ought 
not to render obedience to it. One of his hearers 
became so much excited at this, that he called out 
audibly, ' That is nothing but rank treason ! ' 
Mr. Colver heard the words, and pausing in his 
discourse, he drew himself to his full height, and 
looking keenly at the man for a moment, he said, 
in his most majestic tones, ' Treason to the devil is 
loyalty to God,^ His words and manner produced 
a wonderful effect upon the congregation. An 
indescribable thrill ran through it. I saw men turn 
pale with excitement, and it was a common re- 
mark afterwards : ' Mr. Colver made my blood 



230 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

run cold.' A distinguislied citizen of Cincinnati, 
who witnessed the scene, afterwards told me that 
he had heard all the prominent orators of the day, 
but he never before heard anything in public- 
speaking which could truthfully be called sublime. 
Said he, 'It was far finer than the reply ascribed 
by Wirt to Patrick Henry, when the cry of 
" Treason ! " was raised against him in the Vir- 
ginia House of Burgesses.' 

" During the autumn of 1856, Mr. Colver com- 
menced a protracted meeting, and continued it 
until the summer of 1857. He preached every 
evening during the week except Saturday evening, 
for months. He exhibited powers of endurance 
during this meeting which were really wonderful. 
He had but very little help from abroad. Occa- 
sionally some minister visiting in the city would 
preach and thus relieve him for an evening or 
two, but in the main the burden fell on him alone. 
He had no sympathy with the popular hue and 
cry for short sermons. When he undertook to 
discuss a theme, he generally required an hour to 
exhibit its various phases, and impress its lessons 
upon his congregation. He always loaded his 
sermons heavily, and they rarely failed of hitting 
the mark, and doing execution. He found his 



CINCINNATI. 231 

inspiration in his theme. The grandest sermons 
I ever heard him preach were delivered before 
small congregations on rainy week-day evenings. 
A praj^er-meeting followed the revival sermons, 
and perhaps an inquiry meeting would follow 
the prayer-meeting, so that Mr. Colver rarely re- 
tired to rest until midnight, during the whole 
course of the meetings. 

" The results were glorious. The church were 
melted down with contrition for their past coldness 
and inconstancy, and a tender spirit of consecra- 
tion to Jesus animated every heart. The meetings 
were characterized by profound solemnity and 
deep emotion. It seemed, sometimes, as if the 
very walls must trickle with tears, under the 
pathos of the preacher's appeals. Sinners of all 
classes were awakened, converted, and received 
into the church. A large number of the Sabbath- 
School were baptized, as well as young men and 
young women, heads of families, and even old 
men, who had wasted the best part of their lives 
in rebellion against God. I cannot give the num- 
ber of additions to the church. Suffice it to say 
that the cause was greatly strengthened. The 
converts added largely to the working force of the 
church. This period is one of the brightest in its 



232 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

history, and so long as any of the older members 
live, the story of Mr. Colver's marvelous ser- 
mons, and their results through the blessing of 
God, will be rehearsed. 

" In the autumn of 1857 that wonderful work 
of grace, known as ' The Great Awakening," 
spread through the land. Union meetings were 
held in Cincinnati ; the various miniaters of the 
city preaching in turn. A systematic visitation of 
the neglected and destitute was commenced, and 
resulted in greatly increasing the attendance at 
the meetings. Mr. Colver favored all these plans 
for carrying the Gospel to the masses, and did 
much in his own church towards inspiring his 
people with a zeal for systematic work in tract 
and Sunday-School visitation. He was always 
ready to fill his place as preacher in the Union 
meetings, although his bold and outspoken advo- 
cacy of his peculiar views did not always meet 
with the favor of all his hearers. His church was 
greatly blessed during this winter, as were almost 
all the other churches of the city. The religious 
interest was marked in all classes of society, and 
nundreds were added to the churches." 

A note bearing date " Cincinnati, Nov. 18th, 
1856,'" informs Mr. Colver of his election as ar 



cmciNNATi\ 233 

honorary, ex-officio member of tlie Young Men's 
Mercantile Library Association of that city. 
Another, dated July 14, 1857, gives him notice 
that he has been chosen a member of the Board 
of Trustees of Fairmount Theological Seminary, 
" and also made chairman of a committee, with 
Rev. E. A. Crawley, and Rev. D. Shepardson, to 
define the duties of Professor of Moral and Intel- 
lectual 'Philosophy and Principal of the Prepara- 
tory Department " in the Seminary. About the 
same date he was offered by the Board of the 
Home Mission Society, in New York, the post of 
District Secretary for the West. This he declined. 
While the question of acceptance was pending, 
he received the following, signed by thirty young 
members of his church ; one of those testimonials 
of love and confidence so grateful to a pastor's 

heart : 

Cincinnati, June, 1857. 

Rev. Nathaniel Colver. — Dearly beloved Pastor \ We have 
heard with heartfelt sorrow that while you were at Boston, the 
Baptist Home Mission Convention called you to a new field of 
labor, and that your acceptance of such would necessarily deprive 
us of all the important advantages accruing to us from your con- 
tinuous watch-care, teaching, and affectionate counsel, as our 
pastor. 

Dear sir, in the kind providence of a gracious God, a new re- 
lation has sprung up between you and us. We look upon you as 
our father in Christ Jesus, and we flatter ourselves with the per- 
suasion that you love us as your own dear children. A few weeks 
since, and we each indulged the fond hope that our fellowship in 
this endeared connection would continue unbroken, until holier 



234 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

associations in a purer world should open on our unfettered spirits. 
Until then, we feel that we cannot do without you. None other 
could supply your place to us. Our position is a peculiar one ; 
lately delivered from the dominion of the arch-enemy of souls, our 
way is one of perils, exposed to the attacks of a wily adversary, in 
danger from our sinful hearts. To you we would naturally and 
confidentially look for counsel, to whom, in our transition, when 
the burden of our sins was too grievous to be borne, our whole 
souls were uncovered. 

Dear sir, we feel that we are children, and foolish, and ignorant, 
and that you (our father in the Gospel) are preeminently the one 
to whom we can look up, and in whose affectionate care and 
counsel we can confide. Praying that in your further investigation 
of this important matter you will allow the claims of your children 
to have due weight, and that our Heavenly Father may direct you 
to determine in accordance with his will, that his name may be 
glorified, we subscribe ourselves your affectionate children in 
Christ Jesus. 

The degree of Doctor of Divinity was given to 
Mr. Colver by Granville College, now Denison 
University, soon after his settlement in Cincinnati. 
It was a fitting recognition, not only of eminent 
public services, but also of those qualities as a 
minister of the truth which had surmounted the 
disadvantages of defective early training and had 
placed him among the foremost Biblical teachers 
of his time. 

It may well be presumed that though occupied 
as we have seen in the special duties of his charge 
at Cincinnati, Dr. Colver was no less watchful than 
formerly of the public events transpiring, espec- 
ially those bearing upon interests of reform long 
dear to him. The agitation consequent upon the 



CINCESTNATI. 235 

introduction of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, in Con- 
gress ; the remarkable series of events connected 
■with the early occupation of what is now the 
State of Kansas ,' the attempt by John Brown, in 
his attack upon Harper s Ferry, in Virginia, to 
inaugurate, through precisely in what way has 
never been clear, some movement tending to the 
immediate abolition of slavery ; — these, with the 
omens of pending collision implied in them, and 
growing more threatening year by year, com- 
manded his earnest attention. He bore liis full 
share, also, in the enlightenment of the public mind 
upon what seemed to him true and right upon all 
these subjects, holding it as one material part of 
his duty as a Christian minister to explain and 
defend the principles of true Christian citizenship, 
and show the bearings of Christian doctrine and 
precept in all the relations of human life. As an 
example of his method in treating these subjects, 
and as also an interesting incident in itself, we 
copy here in full his letter to Governor Wise, of 
Virginia,* written while the fate of John Brown, 
already taken prisoner, was still in suspense. The 
reader will not fail to observe in it a prophetic 

*First published in the " Journal and Messenger," of Cincinnati. 



236 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

tone, justified in a lemarkable degree by subse- 
quent events. 

Hon. Henry A. Wise : Dear Sir : — Pardon this intrusion of 
a stranger upon your attention. Being but an humble minister of 
the gospel of Christ, I can plead no exalted position as my title to 
your patience with what I have to say. Your own position is my 
apology for addressing you. You have in your hands a prisoner, 
the disposal of whom will affect yourself and others far more seri- 
ously than the prisoner himself. Precisely the same qualities of 
mind and heart which gave to the noble Lafayette a nation's grat- 
itude and a deathless fame, now threaten John Brown with a gal- 
lows. There is no necessity of a detailed presentation of the 
analogy between the two cases. To your very great credit, there 
are many striking indications that you have already perceived the 
moral resemblance of the two cases. I have no doubt your own 
noble heart has already suggested the superior claims of the latter 
to the esteem of all itood and impartial men. However v/anting, 
at least in human wisdom, John Brown may be, if he dies on the 
scaffold, he will die a pure and noble martyr to liberty, — to sym- 
pathy for poor, crushed, degraded, and wronged humanity. Aye, 
for the very principle which brought his prototype to our shores, 
and for which our noble sires periled their lives, their fortunes and 
their honors. Now, so far as he is concerned, I have little anxiety. 
If he dies, God will take care of his soul, and posterity will, take 
care of his name. 

But, sir, there are others beside John Brown and his immediate 
friends concerned in this matter. The great heart of humanity 
the world over, throbs in John Brown's bosom. The hand that 
sheds its blood will be held by that world as a universal fratricide. 
God and humanity must die, or that act will be avenged. The 
impartial and unchanging laws of Jehovah's empire must change, 
or that act will be avenged. " Slow, but sure," marks the govern- 
ment of God. Earth's foulest blot, the great anomaly of a nation 
of professed vindicators of the inhei-ent and inalienable rights of 
manhood, with their heel upon the necks of three millions of their 
fellow-men, may indeed have sapped the prudence and discretion 
of John Brown. It may overturn the intellect and unsettle the 
brain of the large-hearted, Geritt Smith. It may yet drive thou- 
sands to acts of rashness and even madness. Solomon says, 
" oppression makes a wise man mad." But it will never unsettle 
the mind of Jehovah, nor impede in its progress the great wheel 
of justice, I believe it is no new thimg in the world's histor}% that 
oppression inflicts madness upon others for the cure of itself, a 
dreadful remedy for a terrible disease. Should John Brown be 
hung, I have no doubt even in that event " the wrath of man 



CINCINN-ATI. 237 



shall praise God," and through the over-rulings of his providence 
be made to further the cause of humanity. That single act will 
make more than ten thousand John Bi^owiis all over the land, not 
excepting the South. As I said before, the great heart of the 
world's humanity beats in the bosom of John Brown. Stop its 
pulsation there, and the world, all that is worth naming in it, will 
rebound from the paralysis, and spring into an activity hitherto 
unknown. If John Brown, who could bury the brutal murder of 
his noble sons in his purer, larger, and more noble sympathy for 
the poor, crushed slaves ; if John Brown, who with his twenty men 
could hold Virginia in check, and only surrender to the United 
States troops, and who when he knew his own friends while help- 
less prisoners, were being brutally murdered, was yet kind and 
considerate toward his enemies who were in his hands ; if such 
a man is made to die on the gallows, thenceforward that gallows 
will be a cross, — a cross omnipotent for the gospel of liberty. 
His death will be the beginning of the end. 

As a lover of man, as a lover of freedom, in all this I see noth- 
ing to fear. Above all this, above the storm, above the cloud, in 
the region of God's impartial holiness, in the just government of 
his affairs, all is calm, all is serene. The end is right. Impartial 
justice will be done. Even in this world the peaceful reign of 
Christ shall abolish all distinctions that have their origin in human 
selfishness, and that have their support from adventitious power. 

But, my dear sir, the concern which induces me to trouble you 
with this, is from another source. Those scenes which had their 
origin at Harper's Ferry, and their denouement at Charlestown 
have an interest aside from and beyond all these considerations. 
To these higher considerations, I beg your attention. Justice has 
its changeless foundation in changeless rights. Injustice is the 
violation of those rights, and whether perpetrated under the pre- 
text of law, and the sanctions of human governments, or against 
law, it is injustice still. No official tampering can change its 
character in the sight of God, and all injustice God will avenge, 
John Brown is a good man, a noble man. He is no traitor to any 
law which God sanctions. If he dies, he will die for the noblest 
emotional principle that ever inspired man. If he dies, he will 
die a martyr to the rights of our common nature. While human 
governments are " a terror to evil-doers," they have the sanction 
of God ; but for any wrong inflicted upon the least of his crea- 
tures, they must one day reckon with justice on the same ground 
as the meanest slave. Nor will the wrong be divided by their 
concrete action. It will be multiplied, in its abstract wholeness, 
into each individual actor. The following syllogism will set this 
matter in a fair light : 

In the death of John Brow.n, Virginia murders a good man. 
The act is multiplied into every voluntary participant. Every 
voluntary participant is responsible for the deed. 



238 NATHANIEL COLVER. 



My dear sir, I pray God his blood be not found in your skirts. 
John Brown is physically imperiled. But yourself and all the 
actors with you in that matter are morally imperiled. Of the two, 
your danger is infinitely the greatest. To die for principle is not 
dreadful. To die for sympathy for poor, crushed, and down-trod- 
den humanity is not dreadful. But to shed the blood of such a 
one is quite another thing. To shed the blood of such a one that 
thereby the hands of the oppressor may be made strong, is a deed 
that shall find no covering, neither from the sheltering wing of 
human governments, nor from the rocks or the mountains in the 
day of God. 

My dear sir, it is for you, not John Brown, I plead. Spare 
yourself. I know not that it is in your power to save him. But 
if it is in your power to save him, and he dies, the day of his 
death is the day of your doom. The death-warrant of John 
Brown will convict both the hangman and its author in the day 
when God shall make inquisition for blood. That day that sees 
John Brown on the scaffold, sees your horizon obscured by a cloud 
that no sun shall ever chase from your skies. No matter with 
what scenes you may surround yourself, from that day the grap- 
pling iron of your own doom will have fastened upon your soul. 
Thence onward, John Brown, with his calm, honest, loving, serene, 
but sorrowing face, is to be your companion. Waking or sleep- 
ing, at home or abroad, that strange man who could forget ven- 
geance for the cruel murder of his own sons, in his compassion for 
the poor slave, is to be your companion. You shall see that patient 
face in the sparkling cup of earthly pleasure. You shall hear the 
soft foot-fall of his gentle spirit around your domestic board, 
reminding you of the home you have made desolate. And in that 
last lone hour, to which we are ail hastening, when the summons 
shall come which calls you to your last account, the voice of John 
Brown will strangely mingle with that summons. And to that 
dread account the scenes of Virginia will follow you. There the 
weak will be as the strong. There the wrong-doers, and the 
wronged ones of the earth will stand together before the impartial 
Judge. There the blasphemies of those who have spurned the 
higher law, will be hushed forever, and justice will fulfil her 
pledge to the universe. 

These are not chimerae of a distempered imagination. The 
things that God has said in his word are verities. There is a 
world where the fictitious distinctions of earth are unknown, and 
where justice reigns. I think of you as a m.an. I love you as a 
brother-man. God forgive me if it is not in my heart to do good 
,to my brother men involved in the meshes and even guilt of slav- 
ery, with as tender and self-sacrificing zeal as I would to any 
friends I have on earth. I love John Brown. I revere him as a 
noble specimen of my race. He may die a victim to partial and 
unjust legislation. But I rather envy than regret his lot. I trust 



CINCINNATI. 239 

that he who made the noble victims of Roman law and Philippian 
magistrates to sing in their prison at midnight, will not forget 
John Brown in his American Philippi. But I have not the same 
comfort for those who are seeking his blood. I fear the day of 
his death will be the day that seals their ruin. My dear sir, 
Brown is already saved. Save yourself. Slavery is madly rushing 
upon its own doom. You can not save that. In God's name, save 
yourself. 

With very great respect, I remain your friend and humble 
servant, Nathaniel Colver. 

In the year 1861, Dr. Colver, begining to feel 
the infirmities of advancing years, having now 
reached the age of sixty-six, and health being 
somewhat broken by the strain of constant and 
exciting public labor, decided to accept an invita- 
tion to the less laborious field offered him by the 
Baptist Church in the pleasant city of Woodstock, 
Illinois, near which he had a farm. With this 
decision his work in Cincinnati during five fruitful 
years came to a close. During this period his 
personal acquaintance with churches, and with all 
denominational interests in the West had been 
much enlarged. In cases where difficult church 
questions were to be settled, as in that of the Bap- 
tist Church in Keokuk, Iowa, and its pastor. Rev. 
Mr. Allen, who had embraced open-communion 
views, his counsel was eagerly sought and greatly 
valued. He always stood, on such occasions, 
equally firm for church independency and for the 
integrity of the whole Baptist system. The prin- 



240 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

ciples avowed in his earlier ministry, touching the 
mutual relations of councils and churches, were 
held and maintained by him in these later years. 
All autfiority^ under Christ, he found in the church. 
Councils he held to be for purposes of advice and 
assistance only, and he was jealous of all those ten- 
dencies which he believed himself to have at times 
detected, to invade, in the interest of such measures, 
the New Testament prerogative of the New Testa- 
me^nt church. Nor did his warm sympathy with 
free and manly thought, or his cordial fellowship 
with Christians of all names, render him the less 
strenuous in maintaining the Scripture standard, 
as the invariable rule of faith and practice. The 
argument in favor of what is termed open-com- 
munion never had the least weight with him, and 
when, as in the case at Keokuk, occasion so 
demanded, he maintained the strict Baptist doc- 
trine on the subject, holding that no minister could 
believe and teach open-communion and be with 
either consistency or safety retained as the pastor 
of a strict-communion Baptist church. 



LATEST PASTOBATES. ii41 



CHAPTER XII. 



LA TEST PASTOR A TES- THEOLOGICAL TEA CHING. 
1861-1867. 

Dr. Colver's pastorates at Woodstock and at 
Chicago may be treated as one. At the first- 
named place, whither he removed early in 1861, 
he remained only a few months. The change from 
a larger to a smaller charge, with the consequent 
lessening of labor and responsibility, was a relief 
to him. His more rural surroundings also were 
an attraction ; while in the church, and the social 
circle connected with it, he found choice spirits 
like^ninded with himself, and cordial in their devo- 
tion to him as the leader of the flock. But breth^ 
ren in Chicago, learning that he had left Cincin- 
nati, felt that he was needed at the center of 
Northwestern life and movement. The Taberna- 
cle Church in that city had from its beginning been 
marked for its steadfastness in the principles of 

reform, and its devotion to those interests now 
16 



242 NATHANIEL COLVES. 

brouglit to the ordeal of war and suffering. It 
was a time when, in church and state, the champi- 
ons were searched out and called to the front. In 
such circumstances it was plainly impossible that 
one whose name stood associated with the history 
of the antislavery struggle from its beginning, and 
to whom scarcely less than to any other man the 
progress in public sentiment upon the subject was 
due, should now, at the moment of crisis, remain 
in retirement. The church also felt sure that in 
Dr. Colver they should find the pastor and 
preacher they had for months been seeking. They 
had contended long with the embarassments of a 
disadvantageous location, and hoped to find in the 
ministry of a man so eminent the impulse that 
would inaugurate a neW career. 

The urgency of these considerations left Dr. 
Colver scarcely room for doubt. After a few 
months residence in Woodstock, accordingly, he 
accepted the call of the church in Chicago and 
removed to that city. His ministry in this, his last 
stated pastorate, was less marked by revival effects 
than most of his former ones had been, yet in 
other respects was fruitful and memorable. There 
were many things to divert attention, and to hin- 
der the best result of the truth preached. It was 



LATEST PASTORATES. 243 

a period of civil war, with its excitements and 
perils, its public and private calamities. The pul- 
pit had its patriotic duty, like all other posts of 
pubhc service. If the old questions needed no 
longer to be discussed in their abstract merits, they 
required to be applied, in their political as well as 
other results, to the exigencies of the hour. War 
policy meant very much more than simply the 
surest road to victory. It meant the triumph or 
the defeat of great principles. It must issue in 
freedom or enslavement ; in the perpetuation or 
the ruin of the Republic. The question it involv- 
ed was that of seizing or missing the great provi- 
dential opportunity, and realizing or losing th'3 
proffered providential deliverance. If the integ- 
rity of a nation was never before so fearfully 
imperiled, it is certain that never before, in the 
history of mankind, had the principles involved 
been of such moment to every highest interest of 
humanity and the world. The Christian pastor 
could not well mistake his duty in such an exig- 
ency; while, to the public advocacy of those 
views of national policy and of moral and religious 
right which from time to time became the pivots 
upon which great events turned, there was joined 
that other service, always demanded of the pastor. 



244 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

and never more than in a time of war and of gen- 
eral suffering. Tlie angel of sorrow left few 
households wholly nnvisited, and wherever he 
came it was needful that the angel of consolation 
should follow him. In none of these spheres of 
either public or private service was Dr. Colver 
ever found lacking. His views of national policy 
were those of the most advanced friends of free- 
dom. He urged emancipation as a measure of 
war and an act of justice, equally. He believed 
that as slavery had taken the sword it should per- 
ish with the sword. As time went on, he advo- 
cated the successive measures adopted both for 
defending and for securing the Union which, in 
the interest of slavery, had been assailed; and 
insisted always that while in this collision of North 
and South the opportunity should be seized for 
giving freedom to the blacks, these, themselves, 
after being freed, should be protected both against 
the mistakes of their own blind impulses, and 
against the plots or open attacks of those who 
might wish them harm. Hence the Emancipation 
Proclamation of President Lincoln was to him a 
crowning joy, while in the measures of Congress 
intended to guard the rights and welfare of the 



LATEST PASTORATES. 245 

freedmen lie felt and manifested the warmest 
interest. 

Circumstances like these now noticed are not 
best suited to favor pastoral and ministerial labor 
in its customary spheres. Accordingly we have 
simply to say of Dr. Colver's ministry in Chicago 
that while rich as ever in doctrinal instruction and 
in spiritual quickening, and while by no means 
without fruit in converts and ingatherings, it had 
not the conspicuous results of which it has been our 
privilege to speak as seen in other places where 
he had labored. The closing period of his pastor- 
ate was marked by an incident of the greatest 
interest and importance to the church. With the 
removal of the First Church from its location at 
the corner of Washington and La Salle streets, 
the sale of the ground there, and the sharing out, 
to a considerable extent, of its property among 
the other churches of the city, may be dated an 
era in the history of Chicago Baptists. Perhaps 
the most important, certainly the most fruitful, of 
the contributions thus made to the resources of the 
sister churches, was that which became the occa- 
sion of putting the Tabernacle Church upon a 
basis wholly new, and of starting it upon a course 
of prosperity unexampled m its previous history. 



246 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

The house occupied by the First Church, at the 
point it was now leaving — an excellent brick 
structure — erected only a few years before during 
the pastorate of Dr. J. C. Burroughs, was, with 
its furniture and appurtenances of every kind, 
given to the Tabernacle Church. A large number 
of members of the First Church living upon the 
west side of the river where the Tabernacle 
Church was located, a considerable proportion of 
these, including some of the oldest, most valued 
and most useful of the First Church membership, 
decided to unite with the Tabernacle Church at a 
new and more favorable point, jointly chosen, and 
removing the house, donated as we have seen, to 
this point, set up a new banner in the name of the 
Lord. This arrangement was effected under aus- 
pices the most gratifying. The house was taken 
down, removed to the new location at the corner 
of Morgan and Monroe streets, and there 
re-erected, with improvements then and since 
made which render it one of the most attractive 
houses of worship in the city. The Tabernacle 
Church, with the members, some sixty in number, 
of the First Church proposing to join them, united 
in a new organization which, taking the name of 
the Second Baptist Church of Chicago, has now, 



LATEST PASTORATES. 247 

with God's blessing, won a title to be named with 
the largest, most enterprising, most widely influ- 
ential of the Baptist Churches of America. 

While these changes were in progress Dr. Colver 
retained his pastorate of the Tabernacle Church 
He felt, however, that the new church now formed 
should have a new pastor, a younger man, able to 
undertake a service impossible to one who had 
already reached his three-score years and ten. It 
was, therefore, with his most cheerful acquies- 
cence that the joint church called to its pastorate 
Rev. E. J. Goodspeed, of Janesville, Wisconsin. 
He welcomed the new pastor to his field with 
cordial words, publicly spoken, and ever after, to 
the end of his own life, co-operated with him in 
every way made practicable by his influence 
among the members of the church, rejoicing not 
less than any other in the signal success which 
attended his ministry. 

Meantime, providential openings had offered 
themselves for a more exclusive devotion to a 
sphere of service to which, as we have seen, Dr. 
Colver's attention had already been directed. The 
movement for the founding of a Theological Sem- 
inary at Chicago, or at least at some central point 
in the Northwest, may be dated as far back as 



248 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

1859. In May and in November of that year 
Conventions were held at Chicago and at Indian- 
apolis, largely attended by brethren taking a lead- 
ing part in the educational work and plans of the 
Denomination in the West, and at which the ques- 
tion was discussed of proceeding to found, as a 
joint undertaking by all the Western and North- 
western States, a Seminary, in which the work of 
strictly theological education, upon this field, 
should be concentrated. It was a measure of 
great importance, and based upon sound princi- 
ples ; but it soon became evident that what was 
to be done in this direction must be without pre- 
arranged combination. Views of brethren were 
conflicting as to the point at which such an insti- 
tution should be located, while its relations to the 
colleges already founded involved questions of a 
delicate nature with which the minds of many 
were not yet prepared to deal. The work of 
endowment, besides, was one which the Denom- 
ination in the West could not, then, formally 
undertake. Other educational enterprises were 
still more or less in their incipiency, and Bap- 
tist resources were taxed all they could bear 
in providing even what was necessary to save 
these from shipwreck. The agitation of the 



LATEST PASTORATES. 249 

subject, nevertheless, was of service. It called 
attention to questions underlying the whole 
denominational work in education, and inaugu- 
rated principles sound in themselves, and destined, 
in time, to work themselves out, although not 
upon that precise basis. 

The measures entered upon in Chicago in the 
year 1860, may be properly viewed as one effect of 
the movement we have been considering. No 
large attendance of brethren was secured at the 
preliminary meeting called and held ; nor was this 
essential, in view of the fact, recognized from the 
first, that whatever should be builded in the 
nature proposed must be a growth from small 
beginnings. The Baptist Union for Theological 
Education, organized in 1861 and incorporated by 
act of legislature in 1863, had not above a dozen 
members at the outset, and in its treasury were 
scarcely funds sufficient to buy stationery for its 
correspondence. It was, however, the identical- 
organization which has since founded the Baptist 
Union Theological Seminary, now ranking deserv- 
edly with the foremost schools of this class, of 
whatever denomination, in the country. 

Dr. Colver felt from the beginning a deep inter- 
est in the founding of this Seminary. We have 



250 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

before spoken of the views held by him upon the 
subject of theological education in general. We 
have also alluded to the fact that he had become 
distrustful of many things which he saw in the 
theological tendencies of the age. Probably he 
overrated the importance of the signs which he 
beheved himself to have detected, of swerving 
from the strict biblical standard. Some of these 
signs he may have misread. Be that as it may, 
his leading thought was one which no sound 
Christian thinker will call in question. He held 
that theological instruction should rest squarely 
upon the inspired Scriptures; that the doctrines 
taught should be, not the workings out of human 
reason, but the direct and distinct communication 
of the Spirit, speaking in the Word; that the 
ministry should be trained in a mastery of Script- 
ure truth as studied in its Scripture statement, 
and taught to preach, not moral and religious gen- 
eralities, but " as the truth is in Jesus," the Gos- 
pel, distinctively, as God's method of salvation, 
with all its exaltation of divine sovereignty, all 
its humbling of human pride. Finding that a 
school of the prophets was laying its foundations 
in what had providentially become his own field 
of labor, he became peculiarly interested in it, as 



LATEST PASTORATES. 251 

affording him opportunity to impress upon those 
having this work in charge, and perhaps upon the 
foundation stones of the institution itself, those 
convictions so long cherished, so ardently held. 
To a great extent those who had undertaken 
the management of this enterprise sympathized 
with Dr. Colver in his views. Certainly, the 
general principle advocated by him, could not be 
questioned. They may have taken a more hopeful 
view of the theological indications of the time, 
yet were prepared to sympathize with and second 
his desire that the Seminary to be founded at 
Chicago should teach a biblical theology, in the 
emphatic sense contemplated by Dr. Colver him- 
self. As it grew apparent that his connection with 
the church he was serving would soon close, he 
was invited to inaugurate the work of teaching, 
by gathering a class. This he accordingly did, in 
1865, meeting the class in his study at the Taber- 
nacle church. In the following year. Prof. J. C. 
C. Clarke having been associated with him, two 
classes were formed, at the University, numbering 
twelve students. In the fall of 1867, Dr. Colver 
resigned his connection with the Seminary to 
enter upon the work to which he had been invited 
at Richmond, Virginia. Prof. Clarke becoming 



252 ' NATHANIEL COLVER. ^ 

pastor of the Baptist Church in Madison, Wiscon- 
sin, a new organization of the Seminary Faculty- 
was effected ; Rev. G. W. Northrup, D. D., of the 
Rochester. Theological Seminary, being called to 
the chair of Theology, and Rev. J. B. Jackson, of 
Albion, N.Y., to the chair of Ecclesiastical History, 
Rev. G. S. Bailey, D.D., accepting at the same 
time the post of Corresponding and Financial 
Secretary, the work of founding and endowing 
was resumed under new auspices. 

As indicating the close and warm relations sub- 
sisting between Dr. Colver and his class we copy, 
here, the following : " 

Chicago, Sept. 27, 1867. 

Dr. Colver. — Respected Sir: You have indeed been a father in 
Israel to us, your former pupils. Our gathering around the study- 
table the past year, as theological students, under your care, has 
been the means of our gaining truth, the very foundation of the 
doctrines of Redemption, through Christ Jesus. We feel that we 
have put our hands to the plough that you have set deep for us, 
and we have no intention of looking back. We ask of our old 
teacher and counsellor this favor, viz., that the lectures, now 
existing only in manuscript, may be published in convenient form, 
that not only your own students may thus possess them, but that 
also the great truths therein unfolded may be given to the world 
as plain scriptural truths. 

De Forest Safford, E. O. Taylor, 
Henry C. Mabie, J. T. Sunderland, 

Robert Leslie, Jr., T. Geo. McLean 
L. T. Bush, John Gordon, 

E. P. Savage, R. E. Neighbor. 

Dr. Colver took, as the basis of his lectures, the 
Epistle to the Romans. His method was, not 



LATEST PASTORATES. 253 

simply an exposition of the book, but an un^ 
folding of the system of doctrine there contained, 
aiming especially to define, establish and develop 
the doctrine of redemption by Christ. He looked 
upon this doctrine as the fundamental part of 
Christian. Theology ; that upon this all else rests, 
and is to be explained and understood in relation 
to it. His lectures, while based upon the single 
inspired book named, viewed the apostolic teach- 
ing there in connection with Scripture generally, 
while the truths unfolded were discussed in their 
relations with theological truth as a whole, with 
those methods of preaching best suited to impress 
the heart and mind of the hearer, and with cur- 
rent tendencies of religious thought. He brought 
to the illustration of his themes a large and rich 
experience in the ministry of the same truth, 
intimate knowledge and keen insight of human 
nature in its thousand-fold phases and forms, and 
a heart gushing with spiritual tenderness. The 
class-room was often a Bethel, a very House of 
God. His students not only acquired under- 
standing of the truth, they also learned to love it 
and to feel that there can be no happiness, and no 
honor, in this world, equal to that of him who is 
called to preach Christ to men. The theology 



254 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

taught was thoroughly Calvinistic ; that which 
Dr. Colver had himself preached, all his life long, 
not, however, with the slightest antinomian ten- 
dency, but as recognizing human responsibility 
equally with divine sovereignty, and so inter- 
preting the Gospel as that it may with propriety and 
consistency be preached " to every creature." It is 
not too much to say that those who enjoyed the 
benefit of these instructions took from them im- 
pressions which they can never lose ; which, 
whether they serve as missionaries abroad, or as 
pastors at home, they will find prompting, guiding 
and inspiring them to the latest day of their life' 
and their ministry. 

During the year in which Dr. Colver met his 
class at the University, he officiated also as tem- 
porary pastor of the Fifth Baptist Church. It 
was a year, to that church, rich in memorials of 
God's presence, and of the sweetness and power 
of the Gospel. Conversions were frequent, while 
every department of church-work put on new 
vigor. In each part of his own work — in the pulpit 
and the class-room — ^he himself seemed to find 
great delight. If the call of providence had not 
summoned him elsewhere, he would gladly have 
finished his life and his service for Christ even 



LATEST PASTORATES. 255 

thus. He seemed, also, to be full of spiritual 
joyfulness ; happy in his home, and in his work, 
and in the constant fellowship of his soul with 
his Saviour. Among his papers we find these 
verses, composed at some time during the period 
now under consideration. One could easily be- 
lieve them written by one of the quaint, sweet 
poets of van hundred years ago. They are headed, 

Poor Whip-poor-Will, Qob xxxv, lo.) 

'T is night, and far o'er hill and dale 
The gloomy shades of night prevail ; 
List to those notes, so soft, so shrill, — 
It is the plaint of Whip-poor-will, 

Whip-poor-will ; 
Till morning's dawn, so soft, so shrill, 
Gushes the song of Whip-poor-will, 

Whip-poor-will. 

Thus I, a wandering pilgrim here, 
Where nights are long, and lone, and drear ; 
My heart with notes, as soft, as shrill, 
Catches the song of Whip-poor-will, 

Whip-poor-will 
Till morning dawn, as sad, as shrill, 
I pour the plaint of Whip-poor-will, 

Whip-poor-will. 

What time my Father lifts the rod, 

I pour the penitential flood. 

But still with voice more soft, more shrill, 

I sing the song of Whip-poor-will 

Whip-poor-will ; 
I kiss the rod, I love it still. 
And chant the song of Whip-poor-will, 

Whip-poor-will. 



256 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

And when the evening shades of death 
Shall darkly gather o'er my path, 
In dying strains, as soft, as shrill, 
I '11 sing the song of Whip-poor-will, 

Whip-poor-will ; 
The dawn of Heaven my soul shall fill, 
And end the song of Whip-poor-will, 

Whip-poor-will. 

For O, when nights and tears are past, 
My soul at home in Heaven, at last, 
I '11 sing with voice more soft, more shrill, 
The grace that saved poor Whip-poor-will, 

Whip-poor-will ; 
All Heaven shall hear me singing still 
The grace that saved poor Whip-poor-will, 

Whip-poor-will. 

Among the names signed to the testimonial 
presented to Dr. Colver upon the occasion of his 
taking leave of the class he had gathered in Chi- 
cago, is that of R. E. Neighbor, now a missionary 
in Assam, India. We may conclude this chapter 
with the following extract from a letter written 
by him upon receiving intelligence of Dr. Colver's 
decease : 

" Precious in memory are the very many hours 
I spent with him ; hours of strengthening, of in- 
vigoration of one's spiritual life ; where advice 
was given that will never be forgotten, and 
-explanations of passages of Scripture, that made 
them instinct with meaning now, though misun- 



LATEST PASTORATES. 257 

derstood previously. I shall remember him as ,a 
rare expositor. He not only had a very wise way 
of putting his thought, but he ever had at com- 
mand some illustration with which to make it still 
clearer. He often said to his class, with regard to 
their preaching, ' Not only drive the nail home, 
but clinch it,' something, I venture to say, none 
of us will ever equal him in doing. The power 
of his illustrations lay in the fact that they were 
drawn from his own experience, which was very 
rich, and were all so simple, so homely^ if I may use 
such an expression. Taken from real life, they 
were recited with all the freshness of a yesterday's 
occurrence, and were seldom forgotten. 

*' I have frequently found sermons of his, preached 
years ago, still vivid in the recollections of his 
hearers. He was, certainly, a powerful preacher. 
I have often wished I could have heard him in 
the days of his Boston ministry. It would have 
been a treat to see him in his best days. He told 
me once it was easy work for him to preach, and 
that when he was in the pulpit he felt like a car- 
penter at his bench, whose tools are all spread 
before him, and who needs only to put out his 
hand and take any tool he wants. Thought and 
illustration came to him just as he wanted them, 



258 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

and without confusion. This, no doubt, arose 
from his complete mastery of his subject, and his 
intense conviction of its truth. He believed, and 
therefore spake. His faith gave him fidelity, 
courage, and he would bear down upon error and 
errorists with unsparing force. It was no light 
matter to be his opponent in debate on any prin- 
ciple he held vital. Whatever principle sound 
logic carried him to, there he fearlessly stood, and 
announced it. But it was wrong to charge him 
with bitterness of feehng. He had a heart as 
tender as a child's. When he opposed an errorist, 
and made him feel the full force of his logic, he 
had no hostility to his person any further than as 
associated with error. He fought the doctrine, 
and not the man, and I am confident that he has 
been grossly misrepresented in this by those who 
clung to their error, being wiser in their own con- 
ceit than seven men who like him could render a 
reason. He would have treated his own son as 
unsparingly as any one, if he had thought him 
departing from sound doctrine. 

" Even though sometimes wrong himself, one 
cannot but admire that honesty toward himself 
and his convictions which made him so bold a 
champion. Truth was of paramount importance 



LATEST PASTORATES. 259 

with him, and it is not strange that men of a 
different mould should dislike hira. I love the 
men, notwithstanding the faults which they 
must commit sometimes from the honest boldness 
of their disposition, who are not afraid to espouse 
a weak cause which they regard as rights because 
it will make them unpopular. They are to be 
loved and honored of every generation. Dr. Col- 
ver was one of those sturdy men whom many 
think they disgrace by calling them ''Radical.'' It 
has always pained me to hear him charged with 
unkindness and bitterness by his opponents, when 
I knew he was tender as a child and would stoop 
to the lowest. If any man had a mellow heart, 
he had, and often, as we talked together, his eyes 
would fill with tears. Now he has gone to his 
rest, but his name remains associated with some 
of the most interesting events of American Bap- 
tist history. To me, personally, he lingers in 
memory as a very dear friend, and father in the 
Lord." 



260 NATHANIEL COLVEH, 



CHAPTER XIII. 



AMONG THE FREEDMEN. 1867-1870. 

The emancipation of the Southern slaves was 
an event charged with the gravest consequences. 
To liberate, in the heart of a nation, four millions 
of persons subject all their lives to those conditions 
which slavery, even its mildest form, imposes, was 
to hazard much in the interests of right and of 
duty. Not only to that section of the republic 
where those freed persons must have their homes, 
but to the entire commonwealth such an event 
could not fail to bring many dangers, the issue of 
which would depend largely upon the manner in 
which the event itself should be used. The alter- 
natives of policy were alike threatening, save so 
far as to do right is always safest. To hold these 
freed people in a condition of virtual serfdom, 
free in name but slaves in fact, by denying them 
the rights of freemen and of citizens, would be to dis^ 
appoint their eager hopes, and in that same propor^ 



AMONG THE FEEEDMEN. 261 

tion encourage amongst them all the elements of 
revolt and violence. To grant them their rights, 
while still ignorant and subject to the misguid-: 
ance of selfish demagogues, or even the scarcely 
preferable guidance of their own blind impulses, 
involved another sort of peril. Meanwhile, if it 
be the mission of the strong to raise the weak, 
and make them strong, of the wise to guide the 
ignorant, it surely was the solemn duty of the 
republic to care for these millions, and to save them 
not only from those who would use them as 
instruments of partizanship or of personal ambi- 
tion,. but from themselves, and from the mistakes 
into which their undisciplined zeal and eagerness 
might carry them. 

Never was the guidance of right religious 
teaching more needed than among the freedmen 
of the South after the war had closed. It would 
not be right to say that their religious instruction 
had been neglected during the years of their 
enslavement. Many masters were conscientiously 
careful and diligent in this regard, and South- 
ern ministers by no means forgot that with the 
eternal destinies of these souls, also, they were 
put in charge. But the work was environed with 
difficulty. The continued existence of the insti- 



262 NATHANIEL COLVEK. 

tution itself had demanded that the slave should 
be kept in his own place as a slave, and that every 
manner of discipline adapted to develop manhood 
with its high aspirations and its strong impulses, 
should be held within defined limits. Besides, 
all masters were not, themselves, by any means, 
religious men ; nor was it to be expected that 
those who placed no value upon Christian teaching, 
in their own case, should give themselves much care 
in providing it for their dependents. From one 
cause and another it resulted, as it could not fail 
to result, that the amount of intelligent religious 
instruction enjoyed by the blacks was small, and 
when with a stroke of President Lincoln's pen 
they were emancipated, it was the liberation, vir- 
tually, of a nation of heathen. What was to 
control them in the lack of those motives and 
restraints which religion brings ? What could be 
needed more, especially for a people so impressible 
and impulsive, than a religious and moral guidance 
which should curb their wayward tendencies, and 
give that unaccustomed path into which they 
were entering, a right direction ? 

It was creditable to the patriotism, as well as to 
the religious zeal of the Christians of America, that 
they were not wanting to the exigency which had 



AMONG THE FEEEDMEN. 263 

thus arisen. For a time, tlie freedmen work was 
almost an absorbing interest with all denomina- 
tions. The home missionary societies already- 
existing took it vigorously in hand ; new societies 
were organized ; the Government co-operated in 
methods of its own ; Southern Christians, them- 
selves, saw the danger and the true way of escape ; 
and so it came to pass that the colored citizen, as. 
he began to act in that relation, found himself met 
by those who could show him how all such rights 
were exercised under a strict accountability to 
God, and could effectually warn him against con- 
verting the priceless boon he had received into a 
curse more to be dreaded than slavery itself. There 
were disorders ; the period of transition was fraught 
with peril ; demagogism and partizanship were 
not idle, but God carried the nation safely through, 
and a time came when the colored population of 
the South were no longer either a perplexity or a 
dread. 

It was the organization of the National Baptist 
Theological Institute in the year 1866 that seems 
to have first distinctly suggested to Dr. Colver the 
thought of his own personal connection with 
freedmen work. A ministry educated and intelli- 
gent, of their own people, was plainly a chief 



264 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

necessity of the colored population. To provide' 
this was the purpose of the organization just 
named. Brethren honored in the churches every- 
where, had connected themselves with it ; Dr. Solo- 
omon Peck and Dr. J. W. Parker, as instructors ; 
Dr. Wm. Hague, and Dr. J. D. Fulton as influen- 
tial members of the Board of Managers, with 
^others of like eminence. Soon after the society 
had entered fairly upon its work, attention was 
directed to Dr. Colver, as one eminently fitted, by 
his antecedents, by his sympathies, by his power 
as a biblical teacher, and his tact in addressing 
and influencing men, for the service needed in the 
department of instruction. While he was still 
occupied with his classes at Chicago the invitation 
reached him to enter the service of the Theologi- 
cal Institute, and to do for the freedmen that same 
work in which he was now engaged for the 
churches of the North. To his friends, who knew 
of physical infirmities which made rest and quiet 
seem more to be sought than a new sphere of 
anxious labor, the proposal at first appeared one 
not to be even entertained. It did not, however, 
so impress him. Any long continuance in such 
service he well knew to be out of the question. 
Health and life, however, might be so spared 



AINIOXG THE FREEDIVIEN. 265 

as to permit him to begin what others would 
finish. It seemed, also, and this his most anxious 
friends could not deny, a fitting close to a career 
so largely devoted to the interests of the enslaved, 
now in the day of their freedom to become their 
guide and teacher in the things essential to 
a right use of the blessing they had found. After 
prayerful deliberation, he finally decided to resign 
his connection with the inchoate Seminary at Chi- 
cago, and give himself wholly to the work of 
educating ministers for the freedmen. 

Dr. Colver was not allowed to depart from Chi- 
cago without some expression of the interest felt 
by brethren there, alike in himself personally, and 
in his new undertaking. In the evening of March 
8, 1867, accordingly, a meeting largely attended 
was held at the Second Baptist church and 
addressed by various brethren, Rev. M. G. Clarke 
presiding. Pledges of pecuniary co-operation, as 
well as of sympathy and support otherwise, were 
freely made. In his diary Dr. Colver says, " The 
meeting was full of interest. It did my heart 
good." 

Some months following were spent in visiting 
churches. East and West, in behalf of the Insti- 
tute, and in conferences with the Board of the 



266 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

Institute in Boston as well as that o£ the Home 
Mission Society in New York. The details of 
these preliminary labors cannot here be given. 
We must pass lightly, also, over incidents of suc-^ 
cessive visits to the South, previous to the final 
choice of Eichmond as the seat of the school of 
which Dr. Colver was to have the charge. Rich- 
mond, Charleston, Beaufort, the Sea Islands, near 
the latter city, as well as Sulphur Springs in Vir- 
ginia, were all visited. His diarj^, which in this 
case is quite full, records the profound impression 
made by the appearance of the country, especially 
about Charleston, and of that city itself also, 
scarcely yet beginning to recover from the desola- 
tion occasioned by the war. Various incidents are 
recorded, some of them connecting this period of 
his life in a way very interesting with others long 
past. While at Richmond, in the beginning of 
April, he writes : 

Preached in the morning at the First African Church, where 
thirty-five years ago I preached as a candidate. It was then a 
white church, with some five hundred whites and thirteen hundred 
blacks. I declined settling on account of slavery. O, what hath 
God wrought ! 

While at Port Royal, he received a visit from 
Dr. Brisbane, and says of him : 

He brought me a kind message from Rev. Wm. Brantly of 



AMONG THE FKEEDMEN. 2(57 

Augusta, which came through Dr. Babcock. He remembers the 
mutual esteem existing many years since between his honored 
father and myself, and wishes to renew the acquaintance. He 
sent me a kind invitation to visit him and preach for him. I 
would visit him before returning, if I had the means, I loved his 
father as I have loved but few men. Dear, noble man ! 

After returning from this journey and attending 
meetings of the Board in Boston, where it was 
decided to make Richmond the point for locating 
the school, while on his way back another inters 
esting personal incident, reviving former times in 
a like way, occurred : 

We arrived at Norfolk at six o'clock. Learning that a colored 
ministers' meeting was to be held on Wednesday at Portsmouth, 
I concluded to attend it. I put up at the Norfolk Hotel. On 
Tuesday, I called in the forenoon upon brother Henson, pastor of 
the colored Baptist church of Norfolk. I found him a Christian 
and a gentleman. He took me to call upon the Rev. Vincent 
Paler, a chaplain in the United States service. I discovered him 
to be an old acquaintance and friend, converted from a Methodist 
to a Baptist by a sermon he heard me preach in Poughkeepsie, in 
1829. I found a most welcome home at his house until Saturday 
morning, when I left for Richmond. 

May 13, 1867, Dr. Colver arrived in Richmond 
and began his work. The building first occupied 
was one that went by the name of Lumpkin's Jail, 
which had formerly been a slave-pen. Afterwards, 
the old United States Hotel, on lower Main Street, 
was purchased, and made the more permanent 
quarters of the school. This, however, was after 



268 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

Pr. Colver's personal connection with it had been 
broken off by his rapidly failing health. An inter- 
esting indication of the spirit in which he began 
his work is seen in the following address to pas^ 
tors and churches of the South, found among 
his papers : 

In entering upon the work which we propose among you, it is 
due both to you and to ourselves that with all frankness we should 
state to you our purposes and our designs. 

Firsts then, our purpose is to help the colored ministers of the 
South, to whom the colored churches now look for their spiritual 
food and instruction, to such literary and theological knowledge 
as shall enable them more efficiently to accomDlish the work to 
which they are called. And also it is our purpose, to the extent 
of our ability, to educate such young men as shall seem to be 
called of God to the work of the ministry, and to train others 
with a view to their becoming the teachers and the educators of 
their race. This is the work we propose to do. 

Second, we feel the more called to this work, in view of the 
calamities following the terrible war through which we have 
passed ; by which the hands of both white and black have been 
weakened, and paralyzed in the South, rendering assistance from 
abroad indispensable in the accomplishment of the great work, 
and to the meeting of this great and imperative necessity. As the 
Father and the Son have taken us into the fellowship of blessing 
and saving poor, lost men, we feel ourselves pressed into this 
service. 

Third, In entering upon, and in the prosecution of this work, 
we shall studiously aim to hold in the most delicate and Christian 
consideration the peculiar and we hope temporarily disrupted rela- 
tions between the Baptist ministers and churches of the North 
and those of the South. We shall, on the one hand, avoid all 
obstrusiveness, and on the other we shall as studiously avoid 
placing any obstacle in the way of an early restoration of a heart- 
and-hand union in this, and in every good work to which as the 



AMONG THE FKEEDMEN. 269 

disciples of Christ we are called. We shall cTierish a readiness to 
extend the helping hand whenever asked to do so, and to cordially 
receive the same, by whomsoever proffered, and to reciprocate 
every act of Christian courtesy with which we may be favored. 

We are happy in every indication of increasing interest in this 
great work upon which we have entered ; whether that indication 
is found in the recorded convictions of the public meetings, or of 
organized or individual courtesy or co-operation on the part of 
Southern ministers and churches. We suffer the conviction that a 
disruption so serious anH so protracted as that with which our 
denomination has been afflicted will not be healed in a moment. 
But we also cherish the more happy conviction that, now that God 
in his kind providence has removed the cause, the result will cease. 
We firmly trust that this painful alienation will not last forever, 
but that the pure, impartial, just Gospel will soon so ingraft itself 
upon our hearts as to make us not only one in Christ Jesus, but 
also in this and in every enterprise the object of which is to carry 
forward the blessed work for v/hich he made himself a sacrifice. 

I beg to tender to all the personal assurance that while I leave 
to him in whose hands are the hearts of all the manner of its 
accomplishment, yet every act of mine shall studiously aim to 
promote the fraternal union of all states and of all localities, under 
the pure and peaceful reign of one holy and common Lord. 

Nathaniel Colver. 

Dr. Colver's work, at Richmond, was prosecuted 
with the same conscientious fidelity and the same 
whole-hearted earnestness which we have marked 
as characteristic of all his work. Oppressed with 
feeble health ; sometimes by difficulty of breath- 
ing which made it impossible to lie down at night ; 
conscious that in the community where he had 
planted himself the fact was remembered, com- 
mented upon, and not always interpreted in the 



270 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

most friendly spirit, that in the old days of debate 
his voice had been one of the most emphatic in 
denouncing the institution whose wrong and evil 
was by no means even yet confessed ; dealing with 
pupils whose ignorance required to be met more 
than half way, and to whom, therefore, it was 
necessary to teach the very elements of truth ; — 
he still cheerfully accepted the situation in all its 
pecuharities, and went on his way from day to 
day quietly, steadily, unweariedly. 

Strange as it may seem, he was at first met by a 
certain degree of suspicion on the part of colored 
men themselves. In an address delivered three 
years later at a meeting in Richmond, occasioned 
by Dr. Colver's death, Mr. Holmes, pastor of the 
First African Church in that city, said that when 
Dr. Colver came thither in 1867 he was suspicious 
of him, for his profession of love to the colored 
race appeared too strong to be heartfelt. But he 
added that after intimate association with the 
reverend man of God, he had found that his prac 
tice went beyond his words. " He and his family 
lived in the same house with Dr. Co ver, and the 
old gentleman would take their little boy on his 
lap, rock him to sleep and place him upon his 
own clean bed, and although the little fellow s 



AMONG THE FREEDMEN. 271 

clothing was often sadly soiled with the mud of 
Lumpkin's alley. He recollected the Doctor's 
first sermon from a scaffold in the yard of Lump- 
kin's jail." Mr. Holmes exhorted his hearers to 
revere the memory of their great and unselfish 
benefactor, and to teach their children that to 
him they were vastly indebted, not merely for 
freedom, but for the instruction that gives freedom 
most of its value and all of its dignity. 

Associating with himself other teachers to whom 
was committed the work of elementary education, 
in the more proper sense of that phrase. Dr. Colver 
devoted himself erxclusively to such instruction as 
his pupils needed in the work of the ministry. 
Taking the epistle to the Romans as the basis of 
his lectures, he expounded the doctrines there 
found in their various branches and applications, 
adapting his method of teaching to the capacity 
and development of his pupils. Without offend- 
ing them by making his communications too 
childish, he still brought himself to their level, 
gradually lifting them back towards his own. He 
was able to touch the sensibilities so lively in the 
colored race, and to enlist in the pursuits to which 
he led them all their enthusiasm. They learned 
to love him deeply, while hanging upon his lips as 



272 NATHANIEL COLYER. 

their teacher with a reverence almost like what 
the J would have felt for a veritable prophet. 
His work placed a foundation for the Institute at 
Richmond, and on this others, and particularly 
Rev. Charles H. Corey, who succeeded him, have 
since builded nobly. 

It soon became evident, as Dr. Colver went on 
with this toil, that the unaccustomed climate, the 
anxiety, the excitement and the labor were too 
much for his already broken strength. He had 
been early joined by his daughter, Miss Mary 
B. Carter, and was now also by one of his sons, 
Mr. Phineas C. Colver, by both of whom he was 
aided in his teaching, while comforted also by 
their presence and their attentions. In June, 
1868, he came North, health having so utterly 
failed as to make it impossible for him to con- 
tinue. He was accompanied on his return by 
Miss Carter, and after arriving in New York, 
decided, before he should come back to the 
West, to visit once more valued friends in White- 
hall and Burlington. Continuing his journey to 
Boston, he signalized his devotion to the school at 
Richmond by preaching upon the Sabbath both 
there and in Cambridgeport, in spite of his great 
prostration, and taking collections for its benefit. 



AMONG THE FREEDMEN. 273 

On the way from Boston north, he paused for a 
brief visit at West Stockbridge, the scene of his 
youth and early manhood, his conversion, and first 
work in the ministry. At Whitehall, in Mr. Will- 
iam Cook and wife he found relatives whose sym- 
pathy and affection had for many years been to him 
a treasure of the heart. Arriving at Burlington, 
he made his home in the family of another dear 
friend, Mr. Lawrence Barnes. Thence he went 
on to Champlain, memorializing his visit there by 
the record in his diary which we have copied near 
the beginning of this book. Returning to Bur- 
lington, he received from Mr. Barnes a token of 
affection and appreciation most deeply valued, 
and of which he speaks thus : 

Went back to Burlington and stayed at Mr. Barnes'. In the 
evening, greatly to my surprise, he told me that in view of my 
past life, and for the purpose of relieving me from anxiety for the 
future, as to means of living, he had settled upon me a stipend of 
fifty dollars per month, and had entered it upon his books as bills 
payable. O my soul, how good, how faithful and how kind thy 
God has been all thy life long. I can only say of the event it was 
unlooked-for and undeserved. It is God's hand. But O, let me 
feel the responsibility it imposes. 

The generous intention of Mr. Barnes was fully 
.carried out, and until his death Dr. Colver con- 
tinued to receive regularly the monthly sum 
promised. 

i8 



274 NATHANIEL COLVEB. 

From these visits to old scenes and old friends 
Dr. Colver turned westward ; little realizing that 
he looked «pon them for the last time, or that the 
remaining two years of his life were to be years, 
not of toil but of suffering. 



BESIDE THE RIVEB. 275 



CHAPTER XIV. 



BESIDE THE RIVER, 

We may appropriately introduce this chapter, 
wHch is to treat of the last sickness and death of 
him with whose life and labors the foregoing pages 
have been occupied, by noticing an event standing 
in close and tender relation with those which we 
have yet to sketch. Dr. Colver's marriage to 
Mrs. Sarah T. Carter, which took place January 
25, 1825, has been mentioned in the proper place. 
The wife then given to him, in God's good provi- 
dence, remained with him forty-three years. In 
the responsible and difficult positions to which he 
had been called, she stood at his side. From all 
the tumult and agitation of such a life as his, from 
its exciting controversies and at certain periods 
its personal peril, the home she made him was 
ever a refuge, while her sympathy in his views 
and aims, in his trials and triumphs, afforded him 
support just there where he needed to find sup- 



276 NATHANIEL COIVETt.. 

port — in the privacy of that life into which the 
man of action must often retreat that he may- 
renew his forces, and find rehef and re-invigor- 
ation under the perpetual strain of public care. 

Mrs. Colver's health grew frail as age came 
on, and the winter of 1867-68, especially, was a 
season of suffering and decline. The pastor of the 
church where the family held their membership, 
with a view to afford her some of the comforts of 
association with those who loved Christ, deprived 
as she necessarily was of the privileges of public 
worship, from time to time appointed the weekly 
cottage prayer-meeting at her house. The oc- 
casion was always welcomed, and even when but 
few could assemble, her satisfaction in the simple 
exercises of social worship seemed always the 
same. Her own words, in speaking of her Christ- 
ian experience were never many, but they were 
always to the point, and showed that as she went 
down the swift decline, at the foot of which ran 
the dark river with the light beyond, a strong 
hand kept alL her steps. As spring approached 
she grew rapidly worse, and on Sabbath evening, 
April 18th, just at sunset, she breathed her last. As 
her husband turned from her bedside, his words 
were: "It is not dark here; heaven is close at 



BESIDE THE EIVER. 277 

hand!" She was buried on the following Wed- 
nesday, from the Indiana Avenue Church. In 
the sermon delivered on the occasion the follow- 
ing words appear : 

"As a pastor's wife, she was one whom all 
loved ; to whom the poor or the sorrowful turned, 
drawn by the magnetism of her own kind heart ; 
a counselor, a peace-maker, a consoler, found 
much oftener in the house of mourning than in 
the house of feasting. Her kindness to the poor 
was especially marked, and her hospitality always, 
in the most emphatic sense, ' without grudging.' 
As a Christian, she was less demonstrative than 
many ; yet no one could know her long without 
perceiving how profoundly she loved the truth 
'as it is in Jesus,' how she lived daily 'by every 
•word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.' 
How she was beloved by her children, was wit- 
nessed by the tears that fell as she died, and by 
the sorrow that now fills their hearts, that the 
motherly tenderness, the wise motherly care and 
counsel they have never lacked in her, they are 
to have no more on earth.' 

Dr. Colver was called home from Richmond by 
the threatening symptoms which thus proved only 
too truly monitory. After his wife had been laid 



278 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

to rest in Oakwood Cemetery, he retiirned to his 
charge, taking with him the daughter, Miss Carter, 
who, having soothed and comforted the last years 
and days of one parent, was soon to render a like 
office of affection and fidelity to the other. Of 
the final failure of health which at last compelled 
him to relinquish his work at Richmond, and of 
the journey home, we have already spoken. It 
was hoped by his pupils that he might possibly 
return. He himself, probably, had no such ex- 
pectation. Too many things indicated that he 
was coming home to die. 

Dr. Colver reached his home in Chicago on the 
19th of August, 1868. On the way he had -spent 
a Sabbath at Detroit, and preached both morn- 
ing and evening ; in the morning to the Second 
church, in the evening to both congregations at 
the house of the First church, presenting the claims 
and needs of the Freedmen work, and receiving an 
encouraging sum in voluntary offerings of the 
brethren, though taking ho collection, as both 
pastors were absent. The effect of this fatiguing 
labor was felt in a night of pain and prostration. 
On the Sabbath after reaching home he preached 
at the Fifth church the funeral sermon, as his 
diary mentions it, " of a dear young Scotch brother 



BESIDE THE RIVEE. 279 

whom I baptized over a year since." The labor 
was more than he could bear, and he came home 
suffering and exhausted. Confinement to his 
room followed, so that on the succeeding Sabbath 
he was not even dressed. But on the following 
one, a brother took him in a carriage to the Indiana 
Avenue church, where he seemed much comforted 
by the opportunity of meeting with the Christian 
people he loved, and amongst whom he now had 
his religious home. 

Subsequently to this, his health slightly im- 
proving, he made one more journey to the East, 
not with any expectation of resuming his duties 
at Richmond, but mainly to confer with brethren 
in New York and Boston upon the interests of 
the school he had founded there. The journey 
was very fatiguing, and the exhaustion which 
followed confirmed his conviction that, however 
his heart might cling to the work he had loved 
and labored in so long, his failing hand must 
relinquish it. About this time a new church 
being formed at the University, he and his family 
removed their membership thither, their names 
appearing with those who constituted what is now 
known as the University Place church, and where 
his membership remained to the end of his life. 



280 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

With this church he was permitted to meet a few 
times, to their great satisfaction and his own 
peculiar joy. His last sermon was at the Indiana 
Avenue church, from the words, " Whom have I 
in heaven but thee ? and there is none upon the 
earth that I desire besides thee." A fitting sum- 
mary, alike of his Christian experience, and of that 
which had been for fifty years the theme and 
substance of his ministry. 

Dr. Colver's vigorous constitution yielded to 
disease only after long continued resistance. His 
complaint was of the heart, complicated with 
other forms of disease, occasioning him, at times 
especially, great suffering, with difBculty of breath- 
ing. It was attended also with nervous depression 
at some times, great nervous agitation at others. 
During two years, from his arrival home August 
19, 1868, to his death, September 25, 1870, with 
the brief intervals of temporary improvement 
already mentioned, he was, it may truly be said, 
waiting beside the river, for the summons to 
cross over to the other side. In many respects 
this might be termed the most remarkable period 
of his life. The real nature and spirit of the man 
disclosed themselves amidst these tedious suffer- 
ings as they could never do amidst the excite- 



BESIDE THE EIVEE. 281 

ments of public life, while never, perhaps, were 
the peculiarities of his genius more strikingly dis- 
played. Mental vigor, of course, was waning. 
The strong man was but the wreck of his former 
self ; and still, as one sat by his couch it was easy 
to find in the thought and utterance which held 
the visitor charmed, almost unconscious of pass- 
ing time, the secret of that power which had made 
him " a prince and a great man in Israel." These 
utterances were alike unstudied and, so far as 
their effect upon the listener was concerned, 
unconscious. They mostly, besides, were upon 
Scripture themes. Expositions of passages more 
or less familiar, exquisitely apt, beautiful and 
suggestive, would be given impromptu, and not 
unfrequently followed out in some of their wider 
applications. More than one sermon was both 
suggested and inspired in those conversations; 
while it was impossible not to feel, as never 
perhaps before, the preciousness of Scripture 
truth, and the loving kindness of him who is the 
Guide and Comforter of his people. The con- 
versation turned occasionally, also, upon themes 
suggested by current events, or went back over 
the great matters with which, in his active and 
conspicuous career, the sick man had so often 



282 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

been called to deal. The champion of human 
freedom seemed at times almost to renew his 
prime when discoursing upon these themes ; the 
fire kindled so long ago, and burning so steadily 
during half a century of mighty movements, and 
changes, keeping its glow to the last. 

It was, however, mellowed and softened. And 
in this particular those who had occasion to be 
with Dr. Colver much during his last illness, 
gained an insight of his true nature which in 
other circumstances might never have been had. 
He showed a consciousness of the liability he had 
been under, during his whole life, while battling 
with what he felt to be great evils, of failing in 
due charity toward those by whom they were 
justified and sustained ; or toward those not pre- 
pared to hold radical ground like his own. On 
this point he showed a peculiar solicitude. Differ- 
ent brethren were named by him with whom, in 
the heat of controversy he had been in collision, 
and toward whom he feared lest he might have 
shown too great harshness. One of these, a 
brother held by him in high respect, yet from 
whom in the times of the antislavery warfare 
he had radically differed, he felt obliged to ad- 
dress in a letter, with a view, not to confession of 



BESIDE THE EIVER. 283 

conscious wrong, but to beg that so far as any 
utterance of his had given unnecessary pain, and 
so far as in any particular he had failed to mani- 
fest a becoming spirit, he might be forgiven. The 
response was not all that he desired, still he felt 
comforted in the assurance that at least he had 
made sure that so far as he himself was concerned 
he should leave the world at peace with all. It 
became evident, thus, that Dr. Colver's decided, 
out-spoken, often severe course in matters of 
reform, had not been dictated by a spirit delight- 
ing in contention, or in overbearing harshness. 
All the tenderness of his nature now gushed into 
view, and the charity which " thinketh no evil," 
and which " hopeth all things," was like a foun- 
tain of sweet waters. 

In matters of Christian experience, he was 
simple as a child. He would sometimes say, when 
his pastor — or one whom for a time he stiU 
viewed in that light — visited him : 

" Now talk to me, just as you would if I had 
never known anything about the Gospel. I want 
to hear just how it is that a sinner is saved." 

He, of course, asked what was impossible ; and 
still his request showed in what utter humbleness 
and meekness he was sitting at Jesus' feet. There 



284 NATHANIEL COLYEE. 

were seasons of great depression. For his own 
spiritual state and the world beyond, were to him 
thrilling realities. He contemplated them, not in 
a half-drowsy, half-blind way, like one who sees 
men as trees walking ; but he looked upon them 
with an open, eager eye, and felt them as things 
in which eternity, for him, was summed and held. 
Perhaps there was too much of introspection ; too 
much of anxious analysis of the various moods 
and feelings of which he was conscious ; while 
the darkness which at times oppressed him may 
have as often as any way been occasioned by his 
occupying himself, for the moment, so much with 
matters of mere experience, so as in looking at 
himself to lose the vision of his Saviour. How 
childlike, trusting, and easily led, even at such 
times, he was, may appear from the following. 
One day, while suffering the depression we speak 
of, he said to his daughter : 

" All seems dark to me ; everything is dark." 
" Father," was the reply, " how do you think it 
was with our Saviour, when upon the cross he 
exclaimed, ' My God, my God, why hast thou 
forsaken me ? ' Was he forsaken ? " 
- He glanced up into her face with a brightening 
expression : 



BESIDE THE RIYER. 285 

" Why did you not tell me that before ? " said 
he, and the cloud, for the time, was wholly dis- 
persed. 

It was noticeable that in these seasons of com- 
parative darkness, it was never the question 
whether he might not after all be lost, that 
troubled him ; but the question, rather, why to 
a child of God, such as in humble faith he be- 
lieved himself to be, seasons of darkness should 
ever come. "Why is the Father's face hidden? " 
was the point he was anxious to determine. " Is 
there some sin," he would sometimes ask, " un- 
recalled, unrepented of, of which God would 
remind me ? Is this sorrow intended to quicken 
self-examination that I may remember and con- 
fess all God requires of me ? " It is believed that 
the firm hold of his steadfast foot upon the rock 
of his trust never for a moment gave way, even 
when the flood was at its worst. 

These, however, were but occasional experi- 
ences. For the most part his soul dwelt in glad- 
ness. All his love for the people of God and the 
Church of God, for the truth he had for so many 
years delighted to preach, for his brethren in the 
ministry, for the young students preparing for the 
same work who came often to his bedside, for the 



286 NATHANIEL COLYER. 

Saviour's name and the Saviour's cause, glowed 
if possible with an intenser flame amidst these 
sufferings. The Gospel was almost his constant 
theme, and if called away to some other topic for 
a little season, his mind always returned speedily 
to this. It was a treat to spend an hour in his 
room, and no one enjoying that privilege and 
prepared to appreciate it can ever have gone 
away unprofited. 

During these later years of his life Dr. Colver 
was often visited, or addressed in letters, by those 
who had been interested in his course as a public 
man, especially upon subjects of reform, and his 
advice, especially upon questions of conscience, 
often sought. An incident of this kind, and the 
words it drew from him, stand in such a relation 
to an interesting period of his life already dwelt 
upon, that we think it should have more than a 
passing notice. Although it occurred somewhat 
earlier than our present date, it will be appropri- 
ately mentioned here. He had been applied to 
by some one in behalf of a friend, for counsel 
upon a delicate point of moral obligation. The 
nature of the inquiry and the tenor of his reply 
will sufficiently appear in the following extract 
from his letter : 



BESIDE THE KIVEE. 287 

Your friend requests me to express to you my opinion as to your 
liberty, as a Royal Arch Mason, to publish the secrets of Masonry 
within your knowledge. I am perfectly free to express to you my 
opinion upon the subject. The time was, when I supposed the 
obligations of Masonry binding upon me. It was at the time 
when all the secrets of Masonry were published in the State 
of New York, and Masons were everywhere denying the disclo- 
sures, persecuting seceders with a spirit of malignity unsurpassed, 
at any time, by the slaveholding rebels of the South, and very 
extensively using my name to confirm their denials. I suffered 
very much at the time in my spiritual feelings. I felt that though 
silent, I was endorsing deception and lying, and yet my oaths 
barred me from frankness and truth. I did not suffer more when 
under conviction for sin, than I did in that terrible state. While thus 
suffering, I read, one morning, in the providence of God, for our 
family worship, concerning the forty Jews who bound themselves 
under oath, not to eat till they had killed Paul. It struck me, and 
unfettered my thought. I soon arrived at the conviction that they 
were morally bound, not by, but to repent of their oath ; that any 
oath which. contravenes the law of God is a matter of repentance 
and abandonment. I was free, and my happiness and relief were 
little surpassed when, in view of Christ, I first found the burden 
of sin removed. From that time to this, I have neither honored, 
obeyed or spared that lying impostor, Free and Accepted Masonry ; 
I got out of the snare with repentance and brokenness of heart ; 
but O I thank God I am out. 

On my own part, I have no reserve. What I say, I say upon the 
house-top ; but everything pertaining to yourself is strictly subject 
to your own discretion and control. The Lord guide you in the 
path of duty. 

Even while suffering as we have described in 
his last sickness, he found heart and strength for 
a considerable correspondence, his letters being 
often dictated, as he lay upon his couch, to his 



288 NATHANIEL COLYEE. 

daughter or to his son, Mr, Phineas Colver. These 
letters were sometimes addressed to former associ- 
ates in the ministry, such as Dr. Neale, in Boston, 
or Dr. Aydelotte, a Presbyterian clergyman of 
Cincinnati, with whom his relations had been 
intimate and cordial labile a pastor in that city ; 
sometimes they were addressed to more private 
persons, or intended for churches to which he 
had formerly ministered. One of these, written 
to Rev. J. Emery, of Cincinnati, was intended 
partly for the inmates of a charitable institution 
there, but was passed from hand to hand and 
perused in private by many who felt in need of 
the spiritual quickening they found in it, as well 
as listened to with deep emotion by those of 
whom it more particularly speaks, when read to 
them, as it repeatedly has been. Its date is 
March 16, 1869 : 

Your very kind letter of the 13th inst., came to-day, and made 
my heart glad. It is good of you to remember your old friend, 
now no longer of any use in the harvest field. It gives me great 
joy to know that God is working by others, though I may be only 
a looker-on. Thank you for your good account of the blessing 
attending the labors of my dear brother Jeffrey ; and especially 
of those dear old Christian widows at the Widow's Home. Do 
see them where they are, and give them my affectionate remem- 
brance and continued interest in their spiritual welfare. You say 
you are preaching the Gospel to the poor. My dear brother, no 
higher privilege can fall to the lot of any man. I have had this 



BESIDE THE RIVER. 289 

privilege for more than half a century, but I never knew how rich 
the privilege till now. It seems as if the word of God was like 
fire shut up in my bones. The Gospel never seemed more precious 
than now. I would prefer to live in a cave of the mountain, and 
be permitted to preach the Gospel to " the poor," rather than 
enjoy all the honors and luxuries ot life without it. 

But my cup is full. I have had my share for half a century. X 
was permitted that unspeakable privilege with the loss of but two 
Sabbaths from ill-health in the time, and during that time to lead 
thousands to Christ, and down to the watery tomb with their Lord. 
I have not prayed that God would make me well again ; it seems 
to me as if I was not entitled to it. I thank him for what he has 
done and pray for grace to suffer with patience all his will. 

I am standing, now, on the eastern bank of Jordan, over against 
Jericho, where the tribes pass over. The Jordan of death is before 
me, but my Joshua has dipped his foot in the brim of the river, 
and I shall soon follow him on the dry land. You will wish me 
to say how I feel, now, with the almost certain prospect of death 
in a short time. Well, dear brother, thank God, I can say I am 
comfortable, far from being unhappy. I rest on the blood of 
Christ, and on the promises of his grace. I "have peace with God 
through our Lord Jesus Christ." I have some exceedingly 
precious hours, and some of weakness, pain and darkness. But 
if my Father hide his face for a moment, I mourn that sin has 
incurred his frown, but I rejoice that / have a Father to hide his 
face. His chidings are sweet. The intenseness of the light in 
which I now stand magnifies sin, and I hate it, and " abhor myself 
in dust and ashes." But it also magnifies the grace of God, and 
I love it. Redemption by price and by power ! O, IMo n't won- 
der heaven is full of praise. Earth should be. 

" O the sweet wonders of that cross 
"Where God the Saviour loved and died ; 
Its sweetest life my spirit draws 
From his dear wounds and bleeding side." 

I grieve over the record of my past life, I have done so little ; 
and yet I rejoice over it, because it is also a record of Chrisfs 



290 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

faithful love.. When I think how he has borne with me, and held 
me up, and covered my head in the day of battle for three-score 
years past, I have no fear he will leave me now. 

'• His love in times past forbids me to think 

He '11 leave me, at last, in trouble to sink. 

Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review 

Confirms his good pleasure to help me quite through." 

Do give my love to those who remember and love me there. 
Waiting to pass over, I remain. 

Affectionately and truly yours in the Lord, 

Nathaniel Colver. 

Just a year from the date of this letter, we find 
him writing thus to Dr. Neale : 

I regard this, as every line I write, as a kind of farewell token. 
/ am a dying man. The world has lost its former face. My work 
in it has apparently reached its end. But my interest is not dead. 
I love with as much intenseness as ever I did. O how I do want 
to see you. Dear Fulton, I could almost fly to see him. Every 
token of his or your remembrance is as life to my heart. Do n't 
forget me. My dear Heavenly Father is very precious. I think 
the Living Comforter comes to me, in sweet fulfillment of the 
Saviour's promise. He opens to me the precious truths of the 
Gospel with a sweetness and richness never surpassed in the 
strongest moments of my past experience. I thank God for all he 
gives me. 

God is doing wonders for us here, in our schools, and in the 
church. I bless him that I am here to witness what he is doing 
for his own glory. I am delighted with everything ; with dear 
Hague as our pastor ; with our noble faculty and the precious 
company of young men in both the College and the Theological 
Seminary. The day has come, surely, for our denomination to 
work. To this work my whole heart is aroused, while the paraly- 
zing approaches of death are rendering me powerless. But was 
there ever a time when earth with its teeming millions called out 



BESIDE THE EIVEE. 291 

for God with a voice more distinct, earnest or encouraging than 
now ? The world must have Christ. The world will have Christ. 
My heart takes firm hold of this great fact, and standing where I 
do stand, every night with expectation of being called home, my 
confidence is that grace will triumph, whether by life or by death. 

These letters will indicate, better than any 
words of ours, the general drift of his thoughts 
and the tone of his Christian feeling during this 
period of suffering and waiting. His intense 
desire to have still a place and a part in the work 
he saw going on around him was especially to be 
marked. " Weak " as " the flesh " was, " the 
spirit" had all the willingness oi his best days. 
Perhaps it was harder for him to be quite patient 
with his lot in this respect than it was even to 
bear the pain and the confinement of his illness. 
No small mitigation of this trial was, however, 
found in the society and occupation afforded him 
by the near neighborhood of the two institutions 
of learning, and the large degree in which he 
possessed the confidence of young brethren there 
preparing for the ministry. These he often had 
with him in his room, in groups, giving them a 
sort of colloquial lectures upon preaching, and 
the arrangement of sermons. This gave him 
opportunity, for a time, to keep himself in some 
degree of working connection with old spheres. 



292 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

As he grew worse, and it became necessary to 
provide him with watchers for the night, these 
young brethren returned this service many-fold 
into his own bosom, by their attentions, and the 
regularity with which they came in succession to 
spend the night at his bedside. On this point we 
will allow one of these brethren, Rev. John 
Gordon, now of the Western Avenue Church, 
in this city, to speak ; 

" For many months prior to the death of Dr. 
Colver, it was necessary to procure night-watchers 
to relieve the members of his family, whose ardu- 
ous duties were only outnumbered by their acts 
of kindness to him who, for so many years, had 
been the burden-bearer and joy of their home. 
The students preparing for the ministry in the 
University and Theological Seminary most gladly 
volunteered their service ; esteeming it no small 
privilege to minister to the comfort of their aged 
teacher and friend. Hence, almost every night, 
after the hard toil of a student's day, some faith- 
ful one was at his post. It afforded the dear man 
of God great pleasure to have these ' sons of the 
prophets' attend him in his sickness, and as nine 
o'clock came, he would often seem uneasy and 
express his fears of a disappointment; but on 



BESIDE THE RIVER. 293 

hearing the door-bell ring would exclaim, in his 
own peculiar way, '• There, unbelief is again 
knocked on the head ! ' 

"If space and ability permitted, much might 
be written on the varied experiences of these 
midnight scenes, when sleep had sealed every eye 
but those of the dying patriarch and his youthful 
watcher. While the world was in darkness and 
silence, that sick-chamber was a sacred, solemn 
spot, reminding one of the words of Young : 

" ' This sacred shade and solitude, what is it ? 
'T is the felt presence of the Deity. 
Few are the faults we flatter when alone ; 
Vice sinks in her allurements, is ungilt, 
And looks like other objects, black by night ; 
By night, an atheist half believes a God.' 

It was the writer's great privilege to be a 
member of Dr. Colver's classes in Theology and 
Homiletics; but although thus favored to sit at 
the feet of our biblical Gamaliel, the instruction 
and blessing received in the sick-room far trans- 
cended those of the class-room. Some nights his 
sufferings of body were so great that he could not 
converse, but his perfect submission to his Father's 
will was clearly shown by his patient, uncomplain- 
ing endurance of pain, and this silent lesson was 



294 NATHANIEL COLVEB. 

worth much to the young servant of God. When 
free from pain, he generally spent the silent hours 
of night, not like the great Teacher of Nicodemus, 
telling his hearer how he must be born again, but 
so preparing the heart and mind of the student 
that on the coming Sabbath he could go forth and 
preach salvation through Christ. He was ever 
anxious to benefit the young men. He could no 
longer meet them in their class-room, he could no 
longer preach ' the glorious Gospel of the blessed 
God,' but as with Jeremiah of old, ' the word of 
the Lord was in his heart, a burning fire shut up 
in his bones, and he was weary with forbearing, 
and could not stay.' Hence he was ever instruct- 
ing, ever sermonizing, ever expounding, and many 
a sermon was prepared in these midnight vigils, 
which on the coming Sabbath proved a blessing 
to saint and sinner. 

" One night he was so sick that it was deemed 
advisable to have only his own family beside him. 
Feeling himself near to the gates of death, and 
overwhelmed with the realities of eternity and a 
burden for souls, he called for a pencil and paper, 
and prepared the skeleton of a sermon on which 
he wrote, ' If I die before morning, hand this to 
.' The one grand theme on which he loved 



BESIDE THE RIVER. 295 

to dwell was the vicarious sacrifice of Christ, and 
his ardent solicitude for his students was that 
they should preach Christ, and him crucified. 

"During his sickness he loved much to have 
his friends visit him. O how he enjoyed the 
sweet fellowship and ministrations of those noble 
men of God and life-long friends, Drs. Hague, 
Smith and Osgood. The Professors were dear to 
his heart, and ever welcome at his sick-bed. He 
loved his old congregation, and few can imagine 
the pleasure he received when Dr. Fulton visited 
him, bearing the greetings of his dear old Tre- 
mont Temple flock. Dr. Fulton wrote of spend- 
ing nearly half-an-hour in prayer at the Doctor's 
sick-bed; this was no uncommon thing for the 
students. His faith never wavered. He knew 
that God's foundation and seal were sure. True, 
a cloud would sometimes arise ; but it soon passed 
away. One night he composed these lines, never 
before published : 

' When darkness veils the eternal throne, 
Our feeble sense obscures the light ; 
But when he makes his counsels known, 
We shall confess that all is right.' 

" He ever delighted to recount the numberless 
mercies of God ; often told of his conversion, and 



296 NATHANIEL COLYER. 

ascribed it all to grace ; he delighted to tell how 
* God had covered his head in the day of battle ' 
and ' spread a table for him in the wilderness.' 
While reviewing the past, he did not forget the 
present or future. His soul yearned over the 
lost, and never can the writer forget hearing him 
repeat these words, written so long ago : 

" ' Weep for the lost ; the lost will weep 
In that long night of woe 
On which no star of hope shall ever rise, 
And tears in vain shall flow.' 

" But though blessed in the past and burdened 
in the present, he often exclaimed, ' O when shall 
I see Jesus ? ' Like Paul he felt anxious to re- 
main for the good of others ; but for himself he 
would rather depart and be with Christ ; and if 
ever human lips could truthfully say these words, 
they were his, although he never said them — 
' I have fought a good fight, I have finished my 
course, I have kept the faith.' Surrounded by 
loving and devoted friends he fell asleep in Jesus." 

As intimated above, and as is shown by allusions 
in Dr. Colver's own letters, the coming of Dr. 
Hague to the pastorship of the University Place 
Baptist Church, was to his aged friend and form- 
er associate in labor an occasion of great joy. 



BESIDE THE RIVER. 297 

Although unable, even upon any single occasion, 
to be himself a participant in the peculiar privi- 
lege others had of attending upon Dr. Hague's 
ministry, he found great satisfaction in his frequent 
visits, and in what he was constantly hearing of 
the interest awakened throughout the community 
by his preaching, and of the substantial results that 
followed. Thus from many quarters sympathy, 
comfort, and help came. Meantime, in his own 
family he found what none others could have af- 
forded, and in supplying which they never wearied. 
Two of his sons, Mr. Phineas C. Colver, and Mr. 
Nathaniel Colver, together with his daughter, 
Miss Carter, resided with him, and to the utmost 
that their strength would bear gave him patient 
and unremitted attendance. His disease was of a 
nature to make the care of him, never, indeed, a 
burden, but always a care. It was accompanied 
by great nervous agitation. The powerful brain, 
the vigorous nervous system, acted upon by in- 
fluences that sometimes brought delirium, in some 
instances for days together, and always occasioned 
a high degree of mental and physical excitement, 
made it necessary that he should have always 
those ministrations which are adapted to soothe, 
and save the mind from turning inward and prey- 



298 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

ing upon itself. Tliey were greatly relieyed when, 
some months before he died, Mrs. Bunce, a sister 
of Dr. Colver, greatly beloved and trusted, came 
from West Stockbridge, prepared to remain with 
him to the last. Knowing all his moods, and skil- 
ful in adapting herself to them, accustomed to the 
care of the sick, and full of sympathy and tender- 
ness, she gave herself up to him with all the 
unfailing love of a sister, and all the judgment 
and skill of an accomplished nurse. Her coming 
relieved Miss -Carter of a care which began to 
grow too great for her strength, so long, already, 
overtaxed, and in using which for his benefit, in 
every way, she had never spared herself. The 
society and assistance of Mrs. Clark, another 
relative, were also much valued both by the 
invalid and by his family. Of the services of 
"the beloved physician," Dr. Hatch, it would be 
difficult to say too much. All that medical skill 
could do in contending with disease, in alleviat- 
ing pain, and in soothing nervous disturbance was 
done, accompanied by wise Christian sympathy, 
and by that brotherly kindness in which the two 
men in their intimate association during many 
years had each enriched the other. 

But the end came r.t last. Those present in 



BESIDE THE RIVER. 299 

Dr. Colver's room during the morning of the 
Sabbath, September 25, 1870, will never forget 
the scene. It was an affecting sight; the stal- 
wart frame which had borne so well the heat and 
burden of many a taxing day, alike in the field of 
battle and in the field of spiritual husbandry, and 
which had seemed proof against that hardness 
which the faithful laborer as well as the good 
soldier must expect, fighting now its own last 
battle, and as unwilling to yield as the indomit- 
able spirit had always been. For hours, it was 
the fierce hand to hand encounter of life and 
death, with that poor suffering body as the scene 
of their struggle. At times the nervous excite- 
ment was extreme ; but even at such moments, a 
single word of Christian comfort or suggestion, 
would quiet the agitation, his features break into 
their wonted kind smile, and some word of faith 
or tenderness drop from his own lips. Now it 
would be an utterance of affection to child, or 
sister, at his bedside ; now of love to the Saviour, 
and longing to behold his face ; now of tender 
remembrance for absent ones. Suddenly, at last, 
the awful change came. Consciousness ceased, 
the eyes closed, and after a few convulsions, the 



300 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

child of God had fallen asleep in the bosom of the 
Father. 

The funeral service was held upon the follow- 
ing Wednesday, at the First Baptist Church. Dr. 
Colver's pastor, Dr. Hague, was at the time absent 
at the East. Some delay was occasioned by the 
difficulty found in ascertaining his precise address, 
and the intelligence accordingly did not reach 
him in season to return. His absence was much 
to be regretted, as upon no one so properly as 
upon him could have devolved the duty which 
in the circumstances fell to the writer of these 
pages ; that of giving some delineation of the 
character and the life of Dr. Colver. Most of the 
Baptist ministers of the city were present, includ- 
ing Professors in the University and Seminary, 
in both which institutions the customary exercises 
were for the day suspended. The large house 
of worship was full. Upon the pulpit platform 
were seated, with the pastor of the church, Drs. 
Burroughs, Northrup, Arnold, Osgood and Good- 
speed. Dr. Burroughs followed the sermon with 
an admirable analysis of Dr. Colver's character in 
its strongly marked elements, while Dr. Good- 
speed spoke feelingly and eloquently of what he 
had found in him in their mutual relations as sue- 



BESIDE THE EIVEE. 801 

cessive pastors at the Second Church. As the 
congregation filed past the remains to take their 
last look of the beloved face, now touched with 
the sweetness of the Christian's last repose, yet 
keeping all its familiar nobleness of aspect, the 
proofs were manifold in how many hearts God's 
faithful servant had won a lasting place, and how 
many, even here amidst the scene of his closing 
ministry, had personal cause to bless his memory. 

He was taken to Oakwood Cemetery, and there 
laid to rest beside his wife and daughter. 

And so, farewell, honored and beloved : 

" Light be the turf of thy tomb ; 
May its verdure like emeralds be, 
There should not be the shadow of gloom 
In aught that reminds us of thee." 



802 NATHANIEL COLVER. 



CHAPTER XV. 



PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 

Biography naturally leans toward eulogy. We 
cannot complain that it should do so, provided, 
only, that it does not lean too far in that direction ; 
does not, itself, actually become eulogy. The 
purpose of biography seems manifestly to be, not 
the dissection, but the delineation of character. 
Between the two there is a difference as great 
as between the work of the painter and the work 
of the anatomist ; between the pencil of the one 
and the knife of the other. In what the painter 
does, we have a right to look for the features he 
offers to portray, for face, and form, for attitude and 
expression. He must reproduce his subject; not 
with perfections it never had, nor yet with faults 
and blemishes diligently hunted for, and set forth 
with evident determination that at least there shall 
be, in them, as they appear 04 the canvass, no 
lessening or mitigation. 



PERSONAL CHARACTEEISTICS. 303 

We have not written this book with a view to 

give what immortality we could to the failings and 

errors of him whose life we have sketched. Neither 

upon the other hand could we have any object 

whatever in overstating what we believe to have 

been admirable in his character and career. We 

have, however, a right to wish that his name shall 

wear the garland that belongs to it of right, and 

that his works shall praise him. He was one of 

those men whose faults of character stand clearly 

out, and for such as are inclined to criticise or 

censure invite comment. Not only had he no 

concealments, but his nature was ruled by those 

strong impulses which impart intensity to every 

manifestation. What he thought it was for him 

almost a necessity to utter, and in words as strong 

as the thought. In his intellectual and moral 

temper he was a radical. Not an extremist ; for 

an extremist never knows when or where to stop. 

Dr. Colver did know. But in that sense of the 

word " radical " which assigns it to one who 

applies the axe of reform to " the rooV of all evil 

trees, he was a radical. There was a time when 

to the great majority, probably, of those who knew 

him, he seemed simply an agitator. There came 

a time when that sort of agitation became a great 



804 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

national movement, and when the minority had 
itself grown to be the overwhelming majority. 
What would become of the world, if there were 
no such men ? If conservatives succeed in gain- 
ing forgiveness, at the last, for their own slowness, 
may they not, in return, well afford to forgive 
those who once seemed to be too fast ? 

It is, probably, as a reformer that most of those 
familiar in a general way with the name of 
Nathaniel Colver, will first think of him. What 
he was, in this respect, the foregoing pages will 
testify. In all movements of reform he sympa- 
thized and shared. It is a suggestive fact, how- 
ever, that he became a reformer without becoming 
any less a Christian and a Christian minister. It 
may be said, indeed, that as he was, in point of 
time, a Christian and a minister first, so he was as 
respects the sympathy, the time, the labor which 
he gave to his work as such, when compared with 
that which he gave to what called him in the other 
sphere. We may even say with truth that it was 
as a minister and a Christian that he was a re- 
former. He never saw any antagonism between 
these two. What is more, he could not have been 
tihe one, with fidelity to his own convictions, with- 
out becoming the other. Antimasonry, Anti- 



PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 305 

slavery, Temperance, were t^ him simply practical 
applications of the Gospel he preached; and it 
was to his mind as clearly logical to urge all these 
as resulting from those precepts of revealed truth 
which infold duties with doctrines, as it was to 
exhort a Christian to live in any other respect so as 
to honor and not dishonor the Saviour in whom he 
trusts for salvation. Hence he found no difficulty 
in being at once a Christian pastor and a champion 
of reform ; and it is worthy of notice that at the 
very time when the land rang with abuse of him in 
the one capacity, God's blessing was so upon him 
in the other that revivals, conversions, and the 
baptism of hundreds were the result. Neither, 
as has been already shown, did he ever yield 
a single point of Christian doctrine in deference 
to that spirit of infidelity which at one time 
seized so eagerly upon the hobby of reform, with 
the hope, by means of it, to ride into popular 
favor. He was as bold and unqualified in his 
championship of the truth, as in his championship 
of reform. 

If we attempt a hasty analysis of Dr. Colver's 
character, viewed morally and intellectually, per- 
haps what will first offer itself for comment is its 

robustness. In this respect he was what his origin, 
20 



306 NATHANIEL COLVEK. 

and the conditions of his early life, tended to 
make him. He came of a vigorous, manly race ; 
a race nurtured in vigor and manliness by those 
hard necessities, which yet were the kindly fos- 
terers of the sturdy New England character. 
Physically, he was no unfit type of the genuine 
son of a New England soil. In stature higher 
than the average, the proportions of his figure 
were, in the days of his prime, well nigh perfect, 
matched as they were by a face and head that 
were the fitting crown of a noble form. One who 
knew him only after his removal to Cincinnati, 
while speaking of his person as " large and com- 
manding," and his manner as "dignified and 
graceful," says that he was all this "in spite of a 
rather ungainly figure." It was only after the 
infirmities of advancing years, with the strain of 
many cares and many toils, had bowed his form 
and somewhat changed his wonted firm and swift 
step, that any one could seem to see anything 
"ungainly" in him. There are those who, having 
seen him and heard him in the days of their im- 
pressible youth, have retained ever since the effect 
upon them of his noble presence, especially when 
in the full glory of his eloquence in the pulpit or 
on the platform. And he was in mind what this 



PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 307 

jjliysical presence seemed to imply. Strength 
was his especial attribute ; strength not rude and 
savage, but robust. 

Out of this quality proceeded, it would seem, 
much of that which those especially who differed 
with him looked upon as severe, and perhaps even 
overbearing. Tender and gentle methods were 
not those most natural to him. Where he dif- 
fered he differed with a conviction intense and 
earnest in proportion as the matter in hand was 
to him more momentous. Above all things he 
abhorred whatever seemed like swerving from a 
principle ; and he came to feel, before he died, 
that under the impulse of this tendency he had 
not made sufQcient allowance for that difference 
in the point of view which may lead to differences 
of judgment as to what principle really demands, 
even among those who are in the main equally 
loyal. While, however, borne by the tide of liis 
own robust and strenuous convictions, he was apt 
to bear down upon those radically differing from 
him with a force which seemed almost ruthless. 
That this was only in the seeming, those who 
have followed us in the foregoing narrative will, 
we think, be prepared to admit. Seldom did a 



308 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

kinder, a more generous and charitable heart beat 
in a human bosom. 

His doctrine and method, as a preacher, had 
also the robustness which belonged, as we have 
seen, to his character. A man cast in such a 
mould as he never could be anything else but a 
Calvinist, alike in his experience and in his teach- 
ing. The mere sentimentalisms of religion were 
to him simply contemptible. The tenderness, the 
love, the sweet and gentle charities, the hopes, the 
joys, which hang as bright flowers on the tree of 
a faith rooted in God's word, and whose fruitage 
is a life beautiful in what most adorns and blesses 
humanity — these he could appreciate. But with 
one who, rejecting that word of God, or disloyal 
to it, sought to make fine words and fine senti- 
ments answer in the room of fidelity to the truth, 
with such a one his soul could have no fellowship 
whatever. Disloyalty, in every sense of the word, 
he simply abhorred. So he did weakness. The 
strong words of the Scripture, interpreted accord- 
ing to those standards which had stood the test of 
so many fiery ordeals, could alone adequately utter 
for him that truth in which he saw God revealing 
himself to men. These, he held, supplied both 
theme and substance to every true ministry, and to 



PEESONAL CHARACTEBISTICS. 309 

forsake these for the jingling cadences of mere 
oratory, or for phrases and circumlocutions per- 
versely invented, not to testify but to evade, was 
in his view even criminal. He rested his personal 
faith and hope simply and squarely on the revealed 
word ; and his preaching was ever the expounding 
of that word. So true was this of him, that he 
even held that preaching must always be substan- 
tially textual^ and could recognize no arrangement 
of a sermon as admissible, which did not begin 
with expounding the text, and then proceed in a 
discussion of the points which naturally and nec- 
essarily grew out of it. His own method, in this 
respect, had a certain rigidity which it might not 
be safe for another to adopt imphcitly. Few men 
could succeed so well as he did in redeeming the 
stiffness of a uniform method in arranging the 
thoughts, by the rich variety and the resplendent 
coloring of the thoughts themselves. 

As is so often the case with robust natures, Dr. 
Colver had in his constitution a very large element 
of humor. This was usually of the plajrful, rather 
than the sarcastic kind. Even when there entered 
into it something of the latter, it was saved from 
all that might savor of the sardonic and the ungen- 
erous, by the large proportion which still remained 



310 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

of the former. We are tempted to refer to one 
occurrence whicli has been more than once related 
of him. At a public meeting, in Boston, when 
there was a diversity of opinion among those pres- 
ent and the discussion was becoming unpleasantly 
prolonged, some one arose, and probably thinking 
to throw light on the subject, made in the course 
of his remarks a Latin quotation. Mr. Colver 
sprang to his feet immediately after and thanked 
the brother for his Latin, saying that the matter 
had been rather obscure to him before, but now it 
was quite plain. There was a burst of laughter. 
The assembly adjourned in great good nature, and 
the brother became famous as the one who had 
enlightened and convinced Mr. Colver by quoting 
from what, to him, as probably also to most of 
those present, was a dead language, indeed. 

Upon another occasion this sportive humor was 
turned to still better account. In some place 
where he was preaching, the Universalists of the 
town, anxious to hear one of their own expound- 
ers whose fame was loud in that region, availing 
themselves of some understood privilege to that 
effect, claimed the use of the place of worship for 
a Universalist service. One of their number, 
whom we will designate as Mr. B , a very 



PERSONAL CHABACTEEISTICS. 311 

noisy controversialist, but a man of more than 
doubtful reputation, was notably forward in this, 
and while his minister was preaching, having 
seated himself in a prominent place, took especial 
pains to make his pride and glee in the victorious 
argument that was sounding out from the pulpit 
conspicuous to all. Mr. Colver was present, hav- 
ing his seat near the door. The minister, upon 
concluding, invited Mr. Colver to pray. Mr. Col- 
ver arose and gravely said that it was frequently 
his custom upon closing his sermon to call upon 
some of his own brethren to pray, and he thought 
it very fitting that on this occasion some Univer- 
salist brother should be invited to perform that 
service. " For instance," he said, standing up at 
his full height and pointing to the individual 

named, " for instance, there is brother B ! " 

The absurdity of the thing so impressed all pres- 
ent that in the mirth which followed, scarcely 
repressed, the minister's argument suffered a com- 
plete collapse. 

This tendency to humor sometimes, though very 
rarely, showed itself in preaching. In speeches 
and addresses from the platform, or in lectures 
upon reform, it had ample scope. Few men could 
more effectually set forth the absurd side of a 



312 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

false notion few also have abonnded more in 
quaint illustrations or could more aptly use them. 
The same tendency, however, found in the inter- 
course of his more private life, an exercise which 
made it a delight to many. Ready in repartee, 
full of anecdote, social and genial, his playful 
moods it was always a pleasant thing to share. 
It made him, also, a favorite with children and 
young people, into whose thoughts and pleasures 
he could enter, as well as into the higher and 
sterner thoughts and emotions of those to whom 
life had ceased to be a holiday. One day, as he 
was journeying along a country road, he saw a 
boy fishing without any success. He stopped and 
watched him for a while. Then approaching him, 
he said, 

" You do n't manage it right : let me show you." 
So, dropping the line, he soon drew out a fish. 

" There," said he, " that's the way to do it." 

"But I didn't dare try it again," he used to 
say afterward in relating the incident. 

There was something characteristic in the man- 
ner in which Mr. Colver and the eccentric John 
Leland first met. It was while Mr. Colver lived 
at Union Village. Mr. Leland, arriving at the 
house, entered with little ceremony, and being 



PEESONAL CHABACTERISTICS. 313 

shown to the room where Mr. Colver was, ac- 
costed him with, 

" Do you know me ? " 

"What man," replied Mr. Colver, "knoweth 
a man but the spirit of a man that is in him ? " 

Leland replied with another quotation equally 
apt, when Mr. Colver said, 

" You must be John Leland ! " 

"And you must be Nathaniel Colver!" 

How much of what was congenial to his own 
nature Mr. Colver found in Mr. Leland is shown 
in his admirable sketch of him, as published in 
" Sprague's Annals of the Baptist Pulpit." 

At the risk of extending these delineations too 
far, we must speak of Dr. Colver's steadfastness 
in friendship. It was a great trial to him when 
compelled to have dealings with men who lacked 
this quality. Once he said of one whom he had 
found in certain important particulars unreliable, 
though one upon whom he felt that he ought to 
be able to count with safety : " To depend on him 
is like trying to stand upon a round stone." In 
such a weakness as this he could not even sympa- 
thize. He loved his friends, and he stood hy them. 
To this those who were during so many years his 
associates in counsel and in toil, in connection 



314 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

often with important affairs and in critical times, 
some of whom remain unto this day, would gladly 
testify. In accordance with this was the stead- 
fast love he cherished for the churches where he 
had labored, and those with whom he had sus- 
tained the relation of a pastor. Few incidents in 
his later life gave him greater joy than the oppor- 
tunity afforded by the centenary of the church at 
Union Village, and the dedication of its fine new 
house of worship, in 1866, to revisit the scene of 
his ministry during one of its most interesting 
periods. While refreshing his soul in revived 
associations of the gone-by time, he entered fully 
into the joy of the church and of its pastor, Dr. 
J. O. Mason, who had filled so well and so long 
a post henceforth lastingly associated with the 
names of a Barber and a Colver, while also and 
equally with his own. In Dr. Colver's last sick- 
ness he was greatly cheered by a visit from Dr. 
Mason, who told his church when he returned home 
that " that sick room seemed rather the gate of 
heaven." This attachment to the church at 
Union Village, as to all the other churches he 
had in like manner served, was ivarmly recipro- 
cated. Dr. Mason's sermon, it is proper to add, 
in commemoration of the most honored and 



PERSONAL CHAEACTEEISTICS. 315 

eminent of his predecessors gave great satis- 
faction. 

Of Dr. Colver's sententious sayings, retained in 
the memory of those who heard them, quite a 
collection might be made, as also of his apt com- 
parisons and similes, illustrating the truth he was 
teaching. He had a rare gift that way. The 
following are specimens : 

Speaking of unstable Christians, he compared 
them to little pyramids, trying to stand with the 
base up and the apex down. 

Concerning preparation for every special oc- 
casion, he was wont to say, "If one keeps the 
cistern full, there is no need to labor every time 
for enough to fill the dish." 

He was always ready to apologize for human 
weakness ; and used to say, " If people are not 
worth but a sixpence, why, take them at that, 
and do n't expect any more." 

Another of his sayings was : " God does not 
hold me responsible for the conversion of a single 
soul. I must do my own individual duty, and 
God will take care of the result." 

One of his latest was this, " "When I was a 
young man I thought I could do a great deal of 



316 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

good, but now^ if I can get on without doing any 
harm, I shall be glad." 

But it is time we gave opportunity for some of 
those to speak whose earnest and tender tributes 
lie before us. No man was dearer to him than 
Dr. R. H. Neale, for so many years his neighbor 
and fellow-laborer in Boston, whose steadfast 
friendship he had often proved, whose genius he 
ardently admired. These sentiments were warmly 
reciprocated, as witness the words we here copy : 
" Dr. Colver was a noble, great-souled, loving man. 
I was quite intimate with him all the time he was 
in Boston, and our acquaintance and friendship 
continued until his death. It is impossible to say 
too much of him in the line of his characteristic 
qualities. His character was strongly marked, 
and transparent as the light. He was stern as 
Charles Sumner for principle and right, but as for- 
giving and loving, even to those who had injured 
him — I had almost said, as his Master. Deeply 
and thoroughly religious, he was remarkably 
cheerful ; loving dearly to tell or hear a laughable 
anecdote, no matter if it was sometimes at his own 
expense." 

Speaking of the characteristics which distin- 
guished him, Dr. Fulton says : " First .and fore- 



PEESONAL CHAKACTERISTICS. 317 

most among them was his devotion to Christ and 
his Gospel. He cared little for general literature, 
and had but little sympathy for ministers who 
thought more of scabbards than swords, more of 
elegant diction than pungent thought. Under the 
shadow of the Cross he found the strength, the 
protection, and the help which made him what he 
was. His was a sunny Christianity. When the 
week had been full of battle, and he had been 
beaten and abused, it seemed as if the pressure 
had caused the flowers of piety blooming in his 
heart to exhale a more beautiful fragrance than 
ever, and his preaching showed that he had dipped 
honey from the rock and fed the people with 
manna sent from God. He loved to speak upon 
such a text as, ' The word of God is not bound,' 
and then would write a beautiful hymn, which his 
choir would sing, and which would have been pre- 
served in our best collections, had the man lived 
elsewhere. How he would portray Christ and the 
resurrection ! His delineatory power was, at 
times, as graphic as that of Gough. 

" Memories of his rising in his place at a great 
Temperance Convention in Saratoga, N. Y., where 
he confronted and opposed Governor Briggs on a 
question of policy, live in the minds of men at 



318 NATHANIEL COLVEK. 

this hour. Such was his power that the currents 
of thought were changed. The master-spirit had 
appeared. He spoke over an hour, apparently 
without premeditation, but in so telling a manner 
that he carried the Convention with him, and 
Governor Briggs, familiar with the palmiest efforts 
of Henry Clay and Webster, declared he had 
never listened to such oratory before. There was 
that in the squint of the eye, the pucker of the 
mouth, the wave of the hand, the tone of voice, 
which would set an audience into a roar of laugh- 
ter, or smite the rock of feeling with the touch 
of his wand, causing fountains of tears to gush 
forth. 

"His self-assertion was as marked as his self- 
abnegation. He gloried in being hidden with 
Christ in God, but not being hidden in man, or by 
him. Before the world he was a standard-bearer, 
and would not brook rebuke or constraint in serv- 
ing his Master. Policy was unable to bind him 
either with the silken cords of love, or with fetters 
of iron. This made him stand apart, and caused 
him to walk much alone. Of his reputation he 
was careless. He kept neither diary nor scrap-book 
worthy of the name. So fully was he absorbed 
in the work of his life that memoranda, resolu- 



PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 319 

tions, newspaper notices, all went for nought. He 
lived for Christ and souls, not for himself. He 
was careless of other things. His head would get 
full of a subject, and his handkerchiefs, spectacles, 
shawl, and mayhap carpet-bag, would be left in 
places where he had stopped, and would be follow- 
ing him for days after his return from one of his 
preaching tours. 

"He was a ready man. All he knew, all he 
read, all he thought, was at his command. This 
made it an easy matter for him to write a sketcji 
for a sermon, or preach without memoranda. It 
gave him, too, prodigious power as a debater. 
Interrupt him you might, but discompose him you 
could not. He was our great extemporaneous 
preacher. He was ever ready, too, for a discus- 
sion. Quick at a retort, witty yet not savage, and 
always open-handed -and open-hearted. 

" He did not work three hundred and sixty-five 
days of the year as he worked on some special 
occasions. If he had he would never have 
ploughed those deep furrows in Boston which 
now ridge the past. Though he never accom- 
plished all that greater care and more intense 
study would have permitted him to do, and though 
he has not won the peculiar reputation which they 



320 NATBCANIEL COLVEE. 

have gained whose products of the pen are the 
glory of the age, it may be questioned whether he 
has not done a more important work in his dis- 
tinctive sphere." 

Dr. Aydelotte, a Presbyterian clergyman, of 
Cincinnati whom Dr. Colver held in the highest 
esteem says : " Take him all in all, he was one of 
the most interesting and impressive preachers I 
ever listened to. In more private associations one 
could not but feel his deep and heart-felt piety. 
All was natural with him, not the slightest trace 
of ostentation or seK-seeking. Hence I could not 
but greatly admire and love him." 

The same writer in an article published in the 
" Christian Press," after describing Dr. Colver's 
personal appearance in the pulpit, adds : 

But all this was merely the attractive vestibule to the temple. 
After a brief exordium, we were brought, face to face, to feel the 
power of a giant intellect, and the vastly greater power of a 
heart all aglow with the love of Christ and the love of souls. As 
he went on, his body as well as his spirit seemed rising upward — 
heavenward — while he poured out one continuous stream of cap- 
tivating, melting, richest, sacred eloquence. It was not merely 
the eloquence of intellectual talent, or of high moral and spiritual 
culture ; it was something in addition to all these — it was a rare, 
Heaven-given genius, shedding a hallowed glow of beauty, of 
power, of sublimity over every statement, every argument, every 
appeal. As it is only the divine hand can give bloom to the ripened 
peach, so it was only this divine gift of genius could diffuse such 
wondrous luster over everything which issued from the lips of this 
great preacher in the sacred desk. 

****** 

We have at times endeavored, notwithstanding all the fascina- 



PEESONAL CHAEACTERISTICS. 321 



tions of his eloquence, to listen \Adth the severest critical accuracy ; 
and we were filled with astonishmnent, when we called to mind 
the deficiencies of his early education, that we could rarely dis-, 
cover a solecism or grammatical error in his language, and that 
his figures of speech were so apt and pure — always in strict 
accordance with the nicest rules of rhetoric. What could have 
given him a style so correct and polished ? And what could have 
clothed him with such clear, overwhelming logic ? God did it, — . 
God did it. He who regenerated and sanctified him — He also 
made him so glorious a preacher. His was often the highest style 
of sacred oratory. God rarely sends such a gift to his Church. 
We never expect to see another Dr. Colver. 

During the few years our beloved friend and brother. Dr. Col- 
ver, was pastor of the First Baptist Church, Cincinnati, he endeared 
himself to the hearts of hundreds of people. His ministry here 
was crowned with blessed i-esults, in the conversion of souls, and 
in the edification of the church. His grasp of truth was wonder- 
ful. The clearness with which he set forth the doctrines of the 
gospel will never be forgotten by those who have heard him. There 
was a directness and boldness in uttering truth which reminded the 
hearer of Knox, Luther, and of Paul the Apostle. 

Christ crucified was his favorite theme. Salvation through faith 
in the Son of God ; justification by faith and the Sovereignty of 
God in salvation were the themes on which he delighted to speak ; 
and the people loved to hear him. 

Rev. J. Emery, another dear and valued friend 
in Cincinnati, writes thus ; 

His warm heart glowed in sympathy for the oppressed. He 
feared not to open his mouth for the dumb, and plead the cause 
of those who were doomed to unrequited toil. He had no apol- 
ogies to make for American Slavery, but warned the people against 
sympathizing with, or apologizing for, this sin of the nation. God 
permitted him to live to see the last slave free, and the oppressed 
restored to their rights and citizenship. 

For the poor, the aged, and distressed Father Colver had warm 
sympathy. By their bed-side and in their lowly rooms he loved 
to linger, and express his sympathy and utter his fervent prayers. 
He was specially delighted to visit the Widow's Home, and 
preach Jesus to its forty aged inmates. To them it was a special 
delight to listen to his voice. Though twelve years have passed 
away, many of them remember those visits with great pleasure, 
and speak of our departed brother with tears of joy. 

On one of these visits, he insisted on a blind woman eighty 
years of age, very deaf, coming into the chapel. She sat by his 
21 



322 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

side with her hearing trumpet. He sat near her declaring the 
gospel of the grace of God, The aged saint was delighted, and 
spoke of that sermon for years afterward, as the only one she had 
heard for many years. She has gone to her Redeemer, and the 
man of God who cheered her heart has also fallen " asleep in Jesus." 

Of Dr. Colver's life in his family it does not 
become us, here, to speak minutely. This part 
of every man's history belongs rather to those 
memories which are sacred to silence and to sor-r 
row, than to any record made for the public eye. 
His domestic affections, we may however say, 
were tender and strong, and every member of the 
household was cherished in his heart of hearts. 
Above all did he earnestly seek and long for their 
welfare in the highest sense. While Mr. Knapp 
was aiding him in a revival meeting in Boston, at 
the time of which we have already spoken, one 
of his sons, then a young man, was in St. Louis. 
Learning, through a letter received from him that 
he was about visiting New Orleans, and aware 
that he was as yet without a Christian hope, Mr. 
Colver requested that he might be made a sub- 
ject of special prayer in the meetings, and wrote 
him to this effect. Before the letter could reach 
him, however, the son, completing the purpose 
of his journey sooner than he expected, returned 
to St. Louis. There he came under the influence 
of some special services held by Mr. Hinton, then 



PERSONAL CHARACTEEISTICS. 323 

pastor of the Baptist church in that place, was 
awakened and converted. When the letter of his 
father, forwarded from New Orleans, reached him, 
he was able to declare that the great thing prayed 
for in his behalf in Boston, the Lord had already 
done, for his soul. The circumstances of this 
conversion of one of his children ever after inves- 
ted the event with a peculiar interest ; although 
the mercy of God to his sons and daughters in 
bringing them to an experience of his grace, was 
ever to him a theme of thankful praise ; — as the 
prayer that all might experience this grace was 
also his fervent, constant petition. 

We have not spoken particularly of Dr. Colver's 
fondness for the writing of hymns nor of his other 
poetical productions. As poetry he would never, 
himself, have claimed for them any high place. 
They were, however, a song of his own heart, and 
being often suggested by the themes upon which 
his sermon had been prepared, were not unfrcr 
quently sung by his choir with excellent effect. In 
the different collections of such pieces found among 
his manuscripts, not a few appear made interesting 
by the circumstances under which they were com- 
posed. Such headings as the following, themselves 



324 NATHANIEL COLYER. 

impart interest to the verses written as indi- 
cated : 

" On waking in tlie night of Tuesday the 9th 
of November 1847, and thinking of the time when 
I first found peace with God." 

" A midnight song, composed in the night of 
the 25th of January, 1858, at Elder J. Blain's, in 
Charlestown, after preaching for him in the 
evening." 

" Composed at the funeral of the infant son of 

Dr. L , at Jamaica Plains, and sung on the 

occasion. It was the first-born of Mrs. L . 

She had rejoiced greatly at its birth; and was 
alarmingly depressed at its death. The conver- 
sation resulted in the pencilling of this hymn, 
while the people were gathering." 

"Written Sabbath noon, Feb, 1848, and sung 
at the reception of members in the afternoon." 

We have given, on a former page, one of his 
more playful productions in verse. Another, both 
playful and tender, was sent from Richmond, in 
1868, to the son, Mr. John D. Colver, of whose 
conversion we spoke above, then and still residing 
in Colorado. It accompanied a photograph of 
himself : 



PEESONAL CHAEACTEEISTICS. 325 

My children, I greet you ; 

I 'm happy to meet you 
Among these rude hills everlasting. 

Since you saw me before 

I 've passed my three-score 
And ten — years of toiling and wasting. 

Despise not my wrinkles, 

Old Time's little crinkles ; 
They speak of the battles for Right. 

In the work of reform 

It has faced every storm, 
And never turned back in the fight. 

For three-score and thirteen 

I a pilgrim have been ; 
Over fifty the trumpet have blown ; 

Through the kind hand of God, 

By his staff and his rod. 
Ne'er faltered in making him known. 

Now among your choice things 

That give memory wings, 
Let me find a secure resting-place. 

When you wish a review, 

And old scenes to renew, 
Then look on this old, loving face. 

Still another of these pieces, very sad, and yet 
comforting, in its suggestion, we must give. We 
find it headed thus : 

"The writer of this was by the heart-disease 
compelled to sit upright in his chair that he might 
get breath, one o'clock, A. M., Chicago, Oct. 22, 
1869:" 



326 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

And while the weary watcher slept, 
A way-worn pilgrim waked and wept ; 
He longed his home, his rest to see, 
And cried. My God, I wait for thee. 

My God, I wait for thee. 

My work on earth seems done, 
I long my Father's face to see 

As imaged in the Son. 

My God, I wait for thee ; 

The time of toil is o'er. 
There is a rest remains for me 

On Canaan's happy shore. 

My God, I wait for thee. 

O, when will Jesus come ? 
A mansion is prepared for me, 

O haste, and take me home. 

My God, I wait for thee. 

Nor murmur at my pains, 
But long to soar with Christ away, 

Where life eternal reigns. 

My God, I wait for thee. 

To end this mortal strife ; 
Why should thy chariot long delay, 

To bring immortal life ? 

We might add many words more ; but these, 
surely, will suffice ; — and these are written, not 
simply to honor the man, but far more to illustrate 
how God calls, endows, sends and helps his serv- 
ants. We may conclude all with the words, 



PEKSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 827 

equally beautiful and true, written by Mr. Wash- 
burn, of Boston, and handed to Dr. Colver on 
board the steamer which bore him from that city, 
when he went to Richmond to found there a school 
for the freedmen ministers. Services had been 
held in the cabin of the steamer in which old and 
tried friends, Neale, Hague, Peck, Parker, Fulton, 
Olmstead, Chipman, Grimes had participated. 
Broken with many infirmities, his health but a 
fragment. Dr. Colver had said to these brethren : 
" My physician has told me that I may die ; but I 
would go were I to be carried a corpse from this 
steamer. I want to die with my face that way." 
The lines which follow recognize the martyr- 
like heroism shown in that moment ; but they may 
with equal fitness close the memorial we here offer 
of a life which saw many such moments and whose 
highest praise is that it ever sought, not shunned, 
those ordeals which test courage, and patience, and 
faith : 

" Brave soldier of the olden time ! 

Firm and erect I see thee still ; 
As in thy manhood's pride and prime, 

Ready to do thy Master's will : 
Eager as ever for the fray, 

Quick to assail the hosts of sin. 
Hailing with joy the promised day 

Which ushers our millennium in. 



328 NATHANIEL COLVEK. 

" O, what is age to one like thee ! 

Time touches lightly yet thy brow, 
At threescore years and ten we see 

The hero in the prophet now : 
Thy trumpet tones ring out again, 

The fire still flashes from thine eye, 
Where congregate our earnest men, 

There doth thy chosen pathway lie. 

*' God give thee strength to do His will ; 

It is no idle thing to brave 
The smothered hate of men, who still 

Reject the boon which Freedom gave. 
The mountain peaks have caught the light. 

And through the valleys breaks the day, 
But O, my friend, how much of night 

Has yet to melt and pass away ! 

" Farewell ! the wind blows fresh and free, 

Our old flag every stripe unfurls. 
To-night thy path is on the sea. 

And, tossing from her prow the pearls, 
We know the good ship bears a gem 

To sparkle on a Southern strand. 
Whose rays, like those o'er Bethlehem, 

Shall bless and gladden all the land," 



LECTURES 



ON 



St. Paul's Kpistle to the Romans. 



BY REV, N. COLVER, D.D. 



Lectures on Romans 



LECTURE I. 

The Apostle. 

I. His Birth. — He was born at Tarsus of Jewish 
parents, was conversant with heathen literature and 
customs, but finished his education at the feet of 
Gamahel, and became versed in all the lore of Judaism. 

II. His Conversion and Call to the Ministry. — He 
was converted suddenly by the almightiness of Jesus 
Christ from a zealous persecutor to a praying, loving 
disciple. The peculiarity of his conversion so im- 
pressed him with the sovereignty of grace as to show 
itself in all his after communications through life. 

III. He was separated to his work like Jeremiah by 
the electing grace of God from the womb, and was 
ordained by the specific directions of the Holy Ghost, 
and was commissioned directly by Christ. 

N. B. The election of Matthias was undirected of 
God. The apostolic office is one of power and author- 
ity — official authority, and one to be filled by no 
human election, but by Divine appointment, ends with 
the appointed incumbent, and has no successor. 

LECTURE II. 

Rom. I. 2. — Christ the Burden of all Scriptural Prophecy, 

Prop. — Christ the crucified is the Christ upon whom 
all Scriptural Prophecy rests, and is declared to be 
" the Son of God with power," etc. 



332 NATHANIEL COLVEK. 

I. He is the mysterious seed of the woman who 
should bruise the head of Satan, See Gen. iii. 15. 

II. He is the Shiloh who it was promised should come 
before the tribe of Judah should cease in its patriarchal 
government. See Gen. xlxix. 10. 

III. He is the sacrifical lamb. See Ex. xii. 46, cf. 
John xix. 36. 

IV. He is the suffering substitute. See Is. liii., as 
uoted in Acts viii. 32, ^iZ- This is a credential, clear, 
dl and unmistakable. 

V. He is the Messiah to be cut off. See Dan. ix. 
24-27. 

1. The weeks (or sevens) are weeks of years. 

2. From the decree to rebuild Jerusalem to the 
cutting off of the Messiah are seventy weeks, /. ^., 
seven weeks to the completion- of Jerusalem, and three- 
score and two weeks bring us to the last of the seventy 
in the midst of which he was cut off. This was 
understood by Caiaphas. See John ix. 49. 

VI. He is the seed of David after the flesh and heir 
to David's throne, but was also God Incarnate in the 
same heir. See Is. ix. 6, 7. 

VII. He, the seed of the immutable oath, was con- 
nected with such a concatenated train of circumstances 
as renders deception impossible. See Gen. xv. 4 — 
Seed promised. Gen. xvii. 15 — Posterity to be marked 
in the flesh, and the promise renewed now that Sarah 
is dead to child-bearing, and twenty-five years subse- 
quent to the first promise or seal of circumcision. 
Rom. iv. I. In Gen. xxii. 16, the promise was con- 
firmed by an oath. Now these circumstances so 
combine as to render deception impossible. 

1. Promise believed while Sarah is barren through 
age, and this belief counted to Abraham for righteous- 
ness. 

2. Twenty-five years later promise was sealed by 
circumcision, though Sarah was not yet dead. 

3. When Abraham's faith was tried it was confirmed 
by an oath. Notice in this account the word " faith." 



LECTURES ON EOMANS. 

VIII. He is the priest by oath. Psalm cxvi., and 
Heb. vi. 20, and vii. 3-21. A priest after the antitype 
of Aaron, after the order of Melchisedec, of an un- 
priestly house, made by an oath. The supplanter of 
Aaron and yet supported by Aaron. Combining in 
himself the prerogatives of the mitre and the crown, 
and all this he was in the prophecy or oath and in the 
fulfillment. Surely these are the two immutable things 
in which it is imposssible for God to lie. 

LECTURE III. 
Rom. I. 5. — Grace and Apostleship Given. 

Prop. — To Christ, whose credentials were found 
full and incontrovertible, were the apostles — the " we " 
of the text — indebted for two things, viz., Grace and 
Apostleship. Notice : 

I. Grace. — If Christ will have any to be employed 
in his special service, he will first bestow upon them 
his saving and transforming grace. An unconverted 
ministry is a monstrosity — an offense to God. Per- 
sonal piety is a prerequisite to the ministerial calling. 
Notice in support of this that 

1. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. God does not 
call men to sin. 

2. The work is God's work. An unsubdued enemy 
cannot perform it. 

3. Primitive ministers were first called to be saints. 

4. The regenerated can only know the truth and 
preach it. 

5. The new-born only can sympathize with Christ 
or his. 

A godless ministry has made the Romish Church, 
once the light of the world, what it now is — the 
Mother of Harlots. The origin and perpetuity of 
almost all the errors that have cursed the church of 
God are from a heartless ministry. 

II. Apostleship. — Notice that. 



334 NATHANIEL COLVEPw. 

1. Paul reckons himself as one of the apostles — 
"«/^." He was not a supernumerary, but one of the 
twelve. 

2. Apostleship is the gift of Christ. Men can no 
more elect an apostle than the people of the United 
States can elect the Cabinet of the President. It is 
the prerogative of Christ to choose his own ministers 
and ambassadors. 

3. Their endowments and their authority are both 
direct from their head, Jesus Christ. Their endow- 
ment is supernatural, and their authority plenary. 

4. The scope of their mission is vast and unlimited. 
It extends to all nations, and through all time. They 
have no successors, and can have none. Their author- 
ity is not transferable. 

5. Their work is glorious — the world's subjection 
to the obedience of the faith. Not forced obedience 
or subjection, but that which flows from heart-loyalty, 
from the fidelity of the heart to God. Faith is 
obedience in embryo. Obedience in detail is faith 
developed. 

LECTURE IV. 

Rom. I. 6-17. 

I shall notice in my lecture to-day two things from 
verse 6-17, viz. : 

I. Some particulars concerning the church to which 
this Epistle is addressed. 

I. It was at Rome, the proud capital of the Roman 
Empire. The minds of the people were strengthened 
and enlarged by the training of the Caesars. Martial 
enterprise and moral position in regard to other nations, 
modified by the refinement and polish of the Greek 
nations and literature. In these respects it was 
Carthage added to Rome, or Romanized Carthage. 
' 2. By whom or at what time this church was planted 
is utterly unknown, but by verse 13 it would appear 
that at the time of writing this epistle, Paul had 



LECTUEES ON EOMAITS. 335 

not been there. So it is generally understood, but I 
rather think that he had been there before, and was 
looking for the fruit of former labors among them. 

3. At the time this epistle was written, it was a 
strong and enlightened church, and its structure 
evangelical. They were called of God to be saints, 
and their faith was notorious throughout the whole 
world. 

4. In their strength that pride had risen which re- 
sulted in the utter change of the character of the 
Church. They first substituted Gospel rights upon 
Jewish rites, and afterwards engrafted Judaism on the 
Gospel by baptizing catechumens, and secondly the 
infants of members, etc., until the love of worldly 
pomp and splendor rendered the Gospel of none effect. 

II. The Gospel he proposed to preach to them when 
he should visit them, and which he would give them in 
his epistle. Remark 

1. He was not ashamed of it. 

a. God had slain the pride of his heart. 

b. He had felt its power. 

c. He recognized it as the power of God, or the 

instrument of that power. 

d. He knew its Divine Authenticity. He 

received it of God. See Gal. i. i. 

e. He had seen its power in Asia Minor and in 

Judea, and would venture upon it in Rome.. 

2. It was a charge put into his hand which made him 
the world's debtor. The necessities of men, whether 
Barbarian or Scythian, Greek, Jew, or Roman, were a 
divinely written check upon the treasure of gospel truth 
in his hands, which he w^ould not dishonor. Remark 
that 

a. To discharge this indebtedness the utmost 

energies of God's ministers are taxed. 

b. The responsibilities of ministers through this 

indebtedness involve the life of souls. 
Acts XX. 26. 



336 NATHANIEL COLYEE. 

c. The impartation of this treasure was rather a 

matter of heart's desire than of duty. The 

pious heart will not sit still while souls are 

perishing for the bread of life which is 

entrusted to its care. 

3. " Because therein the righteousness of God is 

revealed from faith to faith," — /. e.^ from faith in God 

to faith in the redeemed soul. Remark that 

a. Faith of God is God's fideHty to the right, — 
faith of divine operation is fidelity to the 
right, to the righteousness implanted in the 
human heart. 

h. The Gospel is a revelation of the impartation 
of God's righteousness into redeemed souls, 
transforming them to his image of right- 
eousness and of true holiness. Col. iii. 10. It 
might read, — "Therein is revealed the 
extension of righteousness from faith to 
faith." This Christ will do till men are 
either saved or destroyed. 

LECTURE V. 

Rom. I. 18. -II. 16. — The Wrath of God against the Heathen, 

Prop. — The wrath of God revealed from Heaven 
against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men as 
applied to the Heathen is just and equitable. 

I. God was known by them from the creation of the 
world (/. e. in point of time,) and from the understood 
speech of the things which he has made, even his 
Eternal Power and* Godhead. See Psalins xix. 1-6; 
Is. xl. 26. 

II. This truth — God's Eternal Power and God- 
head — the heathen held in unrighteousness. This truth 
was written by the finger of God upon their hearts and 
consciences. It troubled them, and hence they changed 
tJie truth of God into a lie, and loved and served the 
creature more than the Creator. They did homage to 
their own lusts. See verses 21-23. 



LECTURES ON EOMANS. 337 

III. Our proposition is confirmed in that "they were 
not thankful." God was manifestly the Author, Owner, 
and Bestower of life with all its susceptibilities and 
blessings, but they denied his proprietorship, and 
seized upon and used them as their own, worshiped 
self and laid all upon the altar of their own lusts. It 
was not necessary in order to their guilt that they 
should know of the Trinity, or of the plan of salvation. 
They knew God's rights, — his Power and Godhead, — 
and deliberately violated them all. They put idol gods 
in his place, and gave them, who were the representa- 
tives of their own lusts, the homage which was his due. 
The legitimate elements of rebellion stamped them 
with infinite guilt. Verse 24. 

IV. Our proposition is more than confirmed by their 
more than beastly and degrading uncleanness, — by the 
almost inconceivable extent of vileness in devotion to 
their own passions when not restrained by God. They 
were " ungodly " in their depravity, and " unrighteous '* 
in their selfishness. The breach of the filial bond sev- 
ered also the fraternal bond. Verses 28-31. 

Remark that God winked at the times of the old 
world. He left men to themselves and allowed them to 
develop themselves in wickedness in the sight of all 
worlds. He sent them strong delusions that they might 
be damned, or rather that it might prove their damna- 
tion just. Thus left, the world was filled with violence ; 
— " blood touched blood." Men became incurable, and 
God destroyed them with the flood. Acts xvii. 30; 
2 Thess. ii. 11, 12; Rom. i. 24. 

V. Our proposition is manifest by their strange affin- 
ity with transgressors, but void of all love and joy 
worthy of their spiritual and moral natures. Verse 32. 

VI. Their legitimate title to wrath is proven by their 
judgment of themselves in the person of others. Rom. 
ii. 1-3. Remark that they indeed suspended their 
judgment concerning themselves by sinister decep- 
tions. This is obvious from their keen sense of the 
wrong of the same thing in others. Their self-blind- 



3^8 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

ness was voluntary. They did violence to their intel- 
lect and reason, that they might gratify a vicious heart. 

VII. By their subsidizing the goodness of God from 
its legitimate tendency, viz : — to lead to repentance, 
to the hardening of their hearts in sin. Verses 15 and 
16. Also Eccles. viii. 11. Thus did they heap up 
wrath against the day of wrath. 

VIII. By the equity of the judge. Verse 11. Is. 
iii. 10. Psalms xcvii. 2. Ez; xviii. 25. To this equity 
of the judge, the human conscience, long stultified, 
deceived, and even seared, will at last speak out, and 
bear testimony. It will at the day of Judgment con- 
demn them, and vindicate God in their condemnation. 
Verses 15, 16. 

IX. By the incurable extent of their unrestrained 
guilt as seen in the manifestations of God's destruct- 
ive wrath in the past. Instances : — God's abandon- 
ment of the Heathen to themselves, — verse 24. Also 
in the destruction of the old world, — of the inhabitants 
of Sodom, and God's judicial visitation of the Jews. 
All these were but the legitimate remedies of desperate 
guilt, — a guilt from which Divine compassion itself 
could not withhold wrath. 

In conclusion let us re-state the argument. We 
have seen that — 

1. They knew God from the Creation. From the 
Creation both as to the date and the source of their 
knowledge. 

2. They knew enough of God to involve moral 
responsibility, viz : — his Eternal Power and Godhead, 
and it was the triumph of a bad heart over the remon- 
strance of judgment and conscience that put their 
idols in his place. 

3. They held this truth, — his Power and Godhead, 
involving his proprietorship, — in unrighteousness. 
This truth they changed into a lie, (idols are "lies.") 
and deliberately spoiled upon the known rights of God. 

4. They denied the rights of his known proprietor- 
ship, and deliberately robbed God of themselves with 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 339 

all their susceptibilities and powers, and of all the sur- 
roundings of his munificence, and sacrificed them all 
upon the altar of their own lusts. If they worshiped 
idol gods, it wa^ the worship of their own passions, 
represented and deified in and by gods of their own 
device. They sacrificed the Creator for the creature. 

5. They showed themselves godless in their deprav- 
ity, and unrighteous in their spoliations on the rights 
of others. In the fearful excess of their lusts they did 
violence to the laws of their own nature, prostituting 
their own bodies to the most unnatural crimes, and not 
sparing even the lives of others when the gratification 
of their own lusts demanded the sacrifice. 

6. . Possessed of this murderous hate toward their 
fellows, they still had affinity with them in guilt, — an 
affinity of lustful pleasure, utterly void of love, and 
involving all the elements of a sinister conspiracy 
against the known rights of a known God. 

7. They did all this against themselves, — against 
their own better judgments. They had a keen dis- 
cernment of the rights of others with which they 
guarded those same rights in themselves, and so con- 
demned themselves in condemning others for violating 
them. 

8. With this conciousness of their own wrong-doing 
they perverted the very goodness and forbearance of 
God from its legitimate tendency to lead them to 
repentance to an encouragement to the increase and 
excess of crime. 

9. Finally, we have seen that the spirit of apostasy 
from God has from the beginning involved the elements 
of infinite crime, by those instances in which unre- 
strained of God it reached such a fearful and incurable 
extent as to constrain a God of equity, a God whose 
attributes of love enter into all his acts, — even the 
declaration and execution of his wrath, — to constrain, 
I say, such a God to execute his wrath upon them to 
their utter destruction. 

This is but the summing up of the Apostle's argu- 



310 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

ment in which by a chain of logic, every link of which 
is truth itself, yea self-evident truth, he has brought us 
to the conclusion that the proposition with which we set 
out is true, and consequently that the condemnation 
of the Heathen rests not upon construction, or arbitra- 
rily imputed guilt, but upon guilt assumed and wrought 
into an actual verity in each individual soul of an 
apostate. 

We close with the remark that the justification of 
such by the deeds of the law, or by any other possessed 
or anticipated virtue on their part is impossible. 
Without the redemption which is in Christ, their case 
is hopeless, and their condemnation just. 



LECTURE VI. 

Rom. II. 10-16. — The Impartial Judgment of Men according to 
their Work or Understanding. 

Prop. — Without partiality God will judge men 
according to the understanding with which they act, 
whether as revealed by the light of nature, or in the 
revelation to Moses. 

God's dealings with men are without partiality. 
His motives are from himself or in himself. He is not 
moved from without. His pleasure is the harmony of 
his own attributes. Injustice would jar upon them all ; 
hence, he condemns injustice and approves of right- 
eousness on their own merits in all his creatures alike. 
Partiality is therefore impossible with God. Therefore 
it is that he declares that "as many as have sinned 
without law shall perish without law, and as many as 
have sinned with the law shall be judged by the law " 
The impartial justice of God will deal with men 
according to the demerit of their sin. Nor is his justice 
slow to recognize obedience to either the natural, or 
the revealed law. The Gentiles, having not the law, 
are a law to themselves. The works of the law (not 



LECTURES ON EOJNIANS. 341 

the law) are written on their hearts, and their con- 
sciences, taking cognizance of the manner in which 
they treat its teaching, approve or condemn. 

Let it be noticed that some of its dictates are not 
offensive to the selfishness of an apostate heart. For 
obedience to them, conscience approves, while all vio- 
lation of them it disapproves. God may see all the 
veins of sin running through all their sinister obedience. 
But the prerogative of conscience is to reprove for only 
known wrong, nor will God condemn them for any deed 
that is in harmony with, his law, but for the sinister 
spirit with which they did it. Jews and Gentiles must 
abide the test of their own law. We have seen that the 
law of nature condemns the Heathen and renders them 
obnoxious to Divine wrath. 

LECTURE VIL 
Rom. II. 17 - 29. — The Sa?ne, but with Reference to the Jews. 

The Jews had in their revealed law a fuller and 
clearer revelation of their duties to both God and man, 
and this law their consciences approved. They 
knew it was right and they gloried in it. Their pride 
took occasion to glory in so perfect a standard. Of 
this approving of their conscience, and of this glorying 
they made a virtue. And even while in their lives they 
violated every precept of it they gathered solace and 
self-approval from such possession and approval. They 
set themselves up as lights and guides to men. They 
taught its precepts to others, but disobeyed them all in 
their own lives. They abhorred idols, but committed 
sacrilege, and this hypocrisy they carried to such an 
extent as to cause the name of their God to be blas- 
phemed among the Gentiles. 

Rom. II. 25 -2q. — Continuation of the Above. 

Circumcision certifies the doom of the transgressor, 
as it prophetically proclaims the cutting off of the 



342 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

Messiah, — the sinner's substitute. If they received it 
in faith, they would be cut off with their substitute, 
and so fulfilled the law by faith, — the only way they 
could keep it. Then would it "profit," for having 
received their vengeance in their substitute, they would 
be personally exempt. Or if the circumcised would 
keep the law, then the same justice which would cut 
off the transgressor, would justify them. But the Jews 
did not keep the law, — not one of them, — and so the 
circumcised became as the uncircumcised, and con- 
demned by even the incidental obedience of the Gen- 
tiles. Possessed as they were of the revealed law and 
of circumcision, and understanding its testimony, their 
disobedience involved an increase of guilt over and 
above that of the uncircumcised. Indeed, he is not a 
Jew who is one outwardly, — /. <?., who lacks the right- 
eousness of the law of the Jews, and also the righteous- 
ness which is by faith, which is described by the 
circumcision of the heart. 

The Jews are thus convicted of even deeper guilt 
than that of the Gentiles. 



LECTURE VIII. 
Rom. III. 1-8. 

The Apostle convicts them of another fearful sin, 
viz: — of converting God's sovereign faithfulness into 
an apology for sin. They had indeed advantages over 
the Gentiles, — chiefly in that to them were committed 
the oracles of God. By those oracles the salvation of 
the vile through the faith or faithfulness of God was 
revealed to them, and that this salvation also redounded 
to his glory, and that his grace and glory were magni- 
fied by the exceeding sinfulness of the saved. They 
affirmed that the Apostles in preaching the doctrine of 
sovereign grace in effect said, — " Let us do evil that 
good may come." The apostle affirms that they who 
thus perverted the truth, justly deserved damnation. 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 343 

Rom. III. 9-18. 

The Jews are therefore no better than the Gentiles. 

In God's sight they are all on the dead level of sin. 

Verse 10. There are none righteous. 

Verse 11. None see, or seek after God. 

Verse 12. All are destitute of virtue or good deeds. 

Verse 13. All involve murder and deceit in their 
character. 

Verse 14. All are utterly malignant toward God and 
man. 

Verse 15. All are swift to shed blood. 

Verse 16, All are in the way of destruction and 
misery. 

Verse 17. None know the way of peace. 

Verse 18. None are restrained by reverence for God. 

On this dreadful dead level of sin, of excuseless guilt 
and condemnation, stands a fallen world, both Jewish 
and Gentile. In circumstantial detail there may be, 
and are, vast differences, but all alike stand on this 
dreadful plane of infinite and condemning guilt. All 
(verse 19.) are under the legitimate jurisdiction of the 
law. " By the law is the knowledge of sin." Its prerog- 
ative is not to save, but to condemn the guilty. This 
it does justify, so that every mouth shall be stopped, 
and the world become guilty, or self-condemned before 
God. 

LECTURE IX. 
Rom. III. 21 - 26. — The Necessity of the Atonement of Christ. 

These verses involve the atoning sacrifice of Christ 
and the justification of the sinner through faith in that 
sacrifice as the only way in which God can be just in 
his justification. Let us then in the first place enquire 
concerning justification itself. 

I. Justification as set forth in these passages is the 
act of a justifier. It is an act of distributive justice, — 
a judicial act of God, giving voice to his own law. 



844 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

Pronounced in the favor of men, it is the declaration 
that they are righteous in the eye of the law. It is the 
judicial declaration of God concerning man. And so it 
is distinguished from the recovering work of the Spirit in 
the cure of the man. It is a declaration concerning 
him as he is in the sight of the law, but proposes no 
change in the man himself. 

II. Justification in itself is an act of simple justice. 
It is the judicial utterance of the law itself, and if truth- 
ful is ever predicated upon supposed perfect righteous- 
ness before the law, and hence is distinguished from 
the act of pardon, which always supposes guilt. The 
judge would not be just, who should justify the guilty^ 
and it would be an insult for the Sovereign to pardon 
the innocent. The distinction is obvious. 

III. Justification belongs not to the legislative, but 
to the executive department of government, and is 
either administrative or judicial, but in either case, to 
be in harmony with law, it must be predicated upon 
righteousness in the subject of its action or decision. 
It is the prerogative of both the administrative and 
judicial function of government to maintain the claims 
of the law without infraction. "Y^iq pardoning power is 
with the decretive department alone. If this be so, then 
it may well be asked, how can a just God justify the 
sinner, the transgressor.? Indeed, our text implicitly 
declares that without the vicarious righteousness and 
sacrifice of Christ, God could not be just in his justifi- 
cation. The law demands sinless righteousness, or the 
life of the transgressor. If therefore there be no vica- 
rious righteousness to be reckoned to the sinner, his 
doom is certain. We have before proved that there is 
none righteous, no not one ; — that they are all under 
sin, and the legitimate condemnation of the law. The 
law provides for no repentance, no reform. Repent- 
ance and reform therefore could not avail to justify. 
Indeed, evangelical repentance confesses and confirms 
the guilt, and says " amen " to the sentence of the law. 
jEvangelical repentance would itself pronounce the 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 345 

judge unjust who should justify the sinner. No 
change therefore in the sinner can ever be the ground 
of evangehcal justification. Without a vicarious right- 
eousness and sacrifice justification could never reach 
a fallen man. His case would be hopeless forever. 
God's justice is as inflexible as his throne is stable and 
permanent. 

IV. That the atonement is indispensable to the sin- 
ner's justification will appear in view of the results 
which must follow justification without it. 

1. If without it God should justify a sinner, and 
such are all the human race, he would thereby 
impeach himself as legislator. It would be compromising 
his own law. If right in his failure to strictly execute 
it, it proves him to have been unrighteous when he 
made it, and gave it to the Universe. A law that is 
unjust in its execution, was unjust in its enactment. 
God could plead no want of foresight in its enactment, 
and if he is just in compromising it now, he must 
have been unjust as a legislator. So that any scheme 
of justification without vicarious sacrifice or atone- 
ment impeaches God. 

2. The penalty of the law is a part of the law itself; 
— remove the penalty and it ceases to be a law. It 
dwindles at once into a mere request. The penalty 
of God's law is eternal death. The law as certainly 
promises death to the transgressor as it does life to the 
obedient. As the administrator would forfeit his integrity 
in separating obedience and life under it, so also would 
he forfeit his integrity, if he separated transgression 
and vengeance. If therefore the law be just, then 
transgression and vengeance are inseparable in its 
sacred and holy execution. If God as executive should 
spare the transgressor from death, or deprive the right- 
eous of life, he would thereby stand impeached of 
want of fidelity to his high trust, and of injustice. To 
be impeached as the executive of just legislation for 
want of fidelity to its law — of neglect to execute its 
enactments, is to be imoeached of no ordinary guilt 



346 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

even in a Civil Ruler. How much more in him who 
has called the Universe to take shelter under the jus- 
tice of his law, and the justice of his hand, — under the 
integrity of his administration ! The law with its pen- 
alty was ordained to life, and in the integrity of its 
administration is the peace, the safety, and the life of 
the moral Universe. To prevent this, God has set 
forth the propitiation of Christ. Surely its necessity 
is imperative. 

V. The necessity of the vicarious sacrifice will be 
farther seen when we consider that if God could just- 
ify or save the sinner without it, then it may be asked, 
■ — why should he have awaked the sword of Justice to 
to smite the man that was his fellow.? Why bruise 
him for our offenses "^ Why lay on hwi the iniquity of 
us all} Why put him to grief.? If his compassion 
could reach its object without it, if he could be just in 
justifying the ungodly without it, why that dreadful 
visitation, — that terrible infliction .? Was it anything 
short of wanton cruelty, — of unparalleled injustice.? 
Not so have angels and men been in the habit of view- 
ing the sufferings of the cross ! 

VI. Aside from the necessity and doctrine of the 
vicarious atonement thereby shadowed forth, the entire 
system of sacrificial offerings as prescribed by the law 
of Moses was a system of meaningless and bloody 
atrocity worthy only the worship of a Moloch ! If 
mercy could without violence to justice have reached 
the sinner directly from God, and without the sacrifice 
of Christ, the innocent and pure, then indeed the suffer- 
ing of the cross would seem as wanton and as cruel as 
it was needless. But it was not needless. Without it 
God could not have been just in sparing men from that 
terrible penalty incurred in the violation of his just 
and holy law, and man had ever remained without 
hope and without God. 

Oh ! Christ must die, — heaven's wrath on him must fall, 
Or death, — eternal death, — had whelmed us all. 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 347 



LECTURE X. 

ROM- III. 21-26. — Christ a Laivful Sacrifice because Divine. 

Prop. Christ only because of his Divinity was a law- 
ful sacrifice. For the following reasons : — 

I. No created being even with his own consent could 
with justice suffer instead of and for the guilty the 
penalty of a violated law. Because 

1. The rights of all beings, moral and intelligent, are 
individual and sacred. True, these rights are God-given, 
but when given they are sacred, and guarded by the 
moral integrity and physical omnipotence of God. 
The rights and the safety of the concrete moral Uni- 
verse are secure and safe in the safety of each individ- 
ual. Any scheme, therefore, which would involve 
either by consent or compulsion, the sacrifice of the 
rights of either the most insignificant or the most 
exalted of the moral and holy family would be an 
infraction of the rights of the whole world. 

2. Besides this, moral rights involve moral duties. 
Each individual is part and parcel of the great whole. 
To the great moral concrete he himself with all his 
susceptibilities and powers belongs. This moral circle 
of social obligation consists of God and all created 
moral intelligences. God has himself pledged his care 
and protection to all his moral subjects. And on the 
other hand his moral subjects are chained to him with 
deathless ties of duty. They are, moreover, bound by 
paternal bonds of duty to every other subject of the 
Divine government. These inherent and perpetual 
bonds as embodied in the two great tables of the law 
are recognized by Christ as the legitimate basis of 
statutory enactment, defining the duties of man. For 
any one therefore to sacrifice himself to penal infliction 
due to and for the guilt of another would be in viola- 
tion of the rights of all others. It would be a robbery 
perpetrated upon the rights of the whole. Nor is it 
less incompatible wiih justice for God to make such a 



348 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

sacrifice. With all due reverence, it would seem to be 
in direct contravention of his assumed and pro- 
claimed responsibilities to his creatures. - It would 
seem to be an infraction upon his part both of the 
rights of the individual sacrificed, and of the rights of 
the community from which in violation of his social 
ties he is abstracted for such a sacrifice. It is obvious 
therefore that if Christ be not divine, — if his suscep- 
tibilities and powers be derived and limited, if they be 
finite, — he could not in justice be made a sacrifice, or 
in other words, be subjected to that infinite wrath to 
which man was obnoxious. 

II. It remains to be considered that all these objec- 
tions are obviated by the fact that though Christ took 
our nature in union with his own yet in all the work 
of Redemption the infinite functions of the Eternal 
God were never suspended, absent, or inactive for a 
moment. His being Divine made the sacrifice a law- 
ful one. Christ being infinite (in the absolute sense) 
could endure the infinite (in the relative sense.) The 
penalty due to man could not be absolutely infinite for 
it had a beginning, and so could not be infinite as to 
time. And it could not be infinite as to quantity, for 
no finite creature could sustain such a penalty. I say 
he could endure it without infraction of the pledged 
dues of the Godhead to the moral Universe. He 
had power to lay down his life, and he had power to 
take it again. Though he made himself an offering 
yet he himself remained to fill his relations to all crea- 
ted intelligences, unsuspended and unmarred. In the 
sacrifice of himself, therefore, he did no violence to the 
rights of others. 

Being God he owned himself, which cannot be said 
of any created being. In giving himself therefore he 
gave but his own. And if he did it without disturbing 
the rights of others, even their derived rights, he did 
but exercise in a just manner the prerogatives of his 
Divine Sovereignty. There is an old axiom of law, — 
"The right of the possessor is absolute, if there be 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 349 

none to dispute it." The sacrifice of Christ as the penal 
substitute for man was lawful. It was in harmony with 
eternal judgment. 

LECTURE XI. 

Rom. III. 21-26. — Was the Sacrifice an Adequate One? 

In answering this, four questions arise, viz : — i . Was 
Christ Divine? 2, Was he very man? 3. Did the 
complex person of Christ give itself one and undivided 
for the sacrifice ? 4, Did vengeance due the trans- 
gressor fall on him to the full amount? 

Question I. — Was Christ Divine? 

I. Christ himself claims to be God. He claims the 
worship of God. John v. 21-23. Here he claims Om- 
nipotence m the crowning miracle of the Resurrection. 
John X. 37. The Only Begotten. Heb. i. 5. The term 
" Son " needs explanation ; he mherits the name of 
" Son " while angels and men are called the " Sons of 
God " by creation and adoption. Jesus is the Only 
Begotten, — there is a personal identity. In John. xiv. 
9, 10, the Father is said to be in Christ. He claims 
this in perfect candor. See also Matt. xix. 17. He is 
either Divine, and so worthy the name of God, or else 
he is an impostor. 

II. His titles proclaim him God. 

1. He is called "Son" in Heb. i. 2-4; Rom. i. 4; 
Luke xxii. 70; Mark xiv. 62 ; Matt. xvi. 16. 

2. He is called " God " in Heb. i. 8 ; Matt. i. 23, also 
xix. 17 ; John i. i. In this last text we have plainly set 
forth, — I. The plurality of persons in the Godhead. 
2. The Unity of the Godhead. 3. The Eternal God- 
head of Christ, — the Creator of all being, and the 
origin of all moral in man or angel. In John viii. 58, 
we have the pre-existence of Christ. See also i John 
V. 20 ; John iii. 13 and 3 1 ; vi. 38 ; xvi. 28 ; also xvii. 24. 

N. B. It is a rule with grammarians that when in 



850 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

the ancient languages two substantives are connected 
with the copulative with but one article, and that pre- 
ceding the first substantive, the latter refers to the same 
thing as the former. This rule is very important, since 
no stronger passages can be found to prove the Divin- 
ity of Christ, than the following, which owing to the 
ignorance or oversight of the translator have been ren- 
dered incorrectly. Titus ii. 13 ; 2. Thess. i. 12 ; Ephes. 
V. 5 ; I. Tim. v. 21 ; 2. Peter i. i'. 

Notice also that the name " Jehovah " is only given 
to God. " Jehovah " is equivalent to " Lord " in the 
Old Testament. See Amos v. 8; Ps. Ixxxiii. 18; Is. 
xlii. 8. Also, John xii. 48, cf.; Is. vi. 1-3. Also, Is. 
xl. 3, cf.; Matt. iii. 1-3 ; Jer. xxiii. 56, cf., Is. ix. 6. 

Question II. — Was Christ very Man? 

I. He assumed the entire nature of manhood, but 
not its moral disease. See Gen. iii. 15. God describes 
Christ as the seed of the woman, when confronting 
Satan in the Garden. Satan was doomed to utter de- 
feat by that which should proceed from his victim. 
The seed of the woman should bruise his head. 

II. It was necessary that Christ should be under 
the law to redeem those that were under it. Gal. iv. 
4-5. This must be so for two reasons, — 

1. That he might obey the law and recognize its 
authority. 

2. That its penalty might rest upon him. 

III. As mediator, he guarded the interests of God, 
and cared for the interests of man. See Job ix. 2iZ > i- 
Tim. ii. 5, cf.; Luke ii. 52. The law measures its 
demands on men according to the development of the 
man. The law took hold of and laid its claims upon 
the perfect man, — Adam, perfect in all the elements of 
his being. And so Christ when he assumed our nature, 
assumed it in its perfect development. He has also 
proved clearly the righteousness of God's law, because 
under it, and in our nature, he worked out a perfect 
righteousness. Erskine says, " Satan snapped at the 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 351 

bait of Christ's humanity and was caught on the hook 
of his divinity." See Is. vii. 14-16. Bearing on this 
subject is an able critique on the i6th verse in Matt. 
Henry's Commentary. See also Heb. ii. 9, et seq. 
From this and the precedmg passage I prove that 
Christ's manhood was gradually and yet fully developed, 
as the manhood was developed. Notice especially the 
17th verse, — "Wherefore inall things it behoved him 
to be made like unto his brethren." 

Question III. — Dm the Diviijity Suffer? 

Having arrived at the conviction that the Divine per- 
sonality of Christ existed before his incarnation, ^nd 
that the Divine personality is preserved in all its integ- 
rity in the incarnation, and also that in the incarnation 
he assumed our nature complete and entire, but with- 
out the sinfulness of man, and with wnich his nature 
is tainted, we proceed to inquire, — " Did Christ 
in his complex nature or being give himself as the 
sacrificial offering } " Or in other words, — " Did his 
whole being, involving his Divinity, suffer .? " 

I. The Scriptures speak of him as being a unit in his 
sufferings. See Gal. i. 4; Tit. ii. 14; Heb. vii. 27, and 
ix. 14 and 28; Is. liii.; Luke xxiv. 26; i. Peter, iii. 18, 
and iv. i. The idea that Christ was divided in his 
work, especially in his great main work, the indispens- 
able cardinal work of Redemption, is utterly incom- 
patible with the integrity of the transaction. It would 
seem to leave the assertion that Christ died an utter 
untruth. It would leave but a human sacrifice after 
all. It may well be asked how it would differ from 
the sacrifice of Paul. There are objections however 
which must be stated. 

Obj. I. It was Christ's humanity suffered on the 
altar of his Divinity. 

Ans. Divinity is no altar. No altar was ever a type 
of Divinity. The Jewish altars represented the claims 
of law, whether for blood or for service. Justice was 
the altar on which Christ suffered. 



352 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

Obj. 2. God cannot suffer. 

Ans. See Gen. vi. 6 ; Ps. Ixxviii. 40 ; Is. Ixiii. 9. 

Question IV. — The Death of Christ. 

I. The sufferings of Christ were a veritable trans- 
action, not of construction, but of real magnitude, 
when he stood as the sinner's substitute to receive the 
penalty of God's violated law, — a penalty which was 
not abated, but inflicted and received to the full extent 
of legal justice. Notice that — 

His sufferings were a penal infliction from the hand 
of God. The sufferings of the flesh were a small 
matter, and merely incidental. They were the filling 
up of the malice of the Jews ; but they did not take 
the Saviour's life ; they were not the infliction of the 
penalty, John x. 18. The sufferings of the Lord did 
not consist in the scourgings of the flesh, etc. In this 
he was our Great Exemplar, and of this cup, we, his 
followers, partake. John x. 18. Christ suffered in^ not 
through the flesh. For " without the shedding of blood 
there is no remission," etc. — /. <r., without life. Matt, 
xxvi. 31, cf ; Zech. xiii. 7. The smiting was from God. 
The infliction was penal. " He trod the winepress 
alone, and of the people there was none with him." 

II. The penalty of the law of God, which man had 
violated, was death. Now what was the death which 
Christ endured for us, and from which he saved them 
that believe 1 Not temporal death. 

1. Temporal death is not the penalty of God's law, 
but ordained on the account of Christ. See Rom. viii. 
20. 

2. From this death Christ does not save his people, 
for they do die. Put in the form of a syllogism it 
stands thus : — 

He saves his people from the death penalty. 
- He does not save them from temporal death. 
Ergo : — Temporal death is not the death penalty. 

3. The penalty which will follow judgment is not 



LECTURES OK ROMANS. 853 

temporal death, but an abiding curse. The wrath of 
God reaped is an eternal reward. The penalty which 
will follow the judgment is not temporal death. Syl- 
logized thus : — 

The death penalty does not precede, but follows 
judgment. 

Temporal death precedes the judgment. 

Ergo: — Temporal death is not the death penalty. 

4. Christ suffered the penalty of sin ; therefore he 
suffered that death which is the antithesis of Eternal 
Life. Gen. ii. 16-17 ; Rev. ii. 2, and xx. 6; John, v. 24 ; 
Rom. vi. 23 ; John. vi. 50, and xi. 26 ; also iii. 15. 

III. Two things more remain to be noticed in con- 
firmation of the conclusion to which we have arrived, 
that the death which Christ suffered was not the tem- 
poral, but the penal death, — that death which is the 
antithesis of Eternal Life. 

1. His sufferings preceded his temporal death. He 
suffered in the flesh, not out of it. See i. Peter iii. 18, 
and iv. i. 

The promise to the dying thief that he should be 
with him in Paradise ; that cry, " My God, my God," 
etc., being limited to matters between him and God 
alone ; the assertion, " It is finished," uttered before 
the death of his body show that his sufferings were 
penal, and preceded temporal death, and that his was 
the death which Judicial wrath will inflict on apostate 
man, — on all who are not saved by grace. 

2. All nature felt the shock of his woe. The sun 
refused to shine, the earth quaked and trembled, the 
rocks were rent, and the veil of the temple was parted, 
and the repose of the grave disturbed — the repose of 
death broken up. At this tremendous period, a Greek 
philosopher is said to have exclaimed, — " Either na- 
ture is coming to an end, or the God of nature suffers." 



354 NATHANIEL COLYEE. 



LECTURE XII. 

Rom. III. 21-26. — The Nature of the Sacrifice, or the Atonement 
available by Faith. 

We proceed next to inquire after the nature of this 
atoning sacrifice as it relates to man. I shall not discuss 
the question whether it be a limited or a general 
atonement in the usual or formal statement of that 
question, but endeavor to get strictly a biblical view of 
it. To do so I will submit a few distinct propositions 
concerning it. 

I. Both the righteousness and the sacrifice are in- 
trinsically ample to meet the necessities of all men. 
They are both infinite in perfection and fullness 
to present any and all men perfect before the law, if 
imputed to them. Both are infinite, and both in man's 
nature and behalf, and if put to the account of any 
man before the law, they will vindicate God in justify- 
ing him, — man. This is the righteousness which Christ 
has wrought out, and brought in. Dan. ix.-24; Rom. 
iii. 21, 22, 26, and v. 17, 18, 21 ; i John. ii. 2. 

II. The righteousness and sacrifice of Christ are 
proclaimed of God as free to all, and as ample for all 
who without price shall accept it. Is. Iv. ; i Ezek. 
xviii. 32 ; Rev. xxii. 17 ; Acts x. 43 ; Rom. iv. 5, ix. 2)'h\ 
I. Peter ii. 6. 

III. They are declared to be limited in their saving 
effect only by their rejection on the part of man. John, 
iii. 19, 36, V. 40; Rom. i. 16. 

N. B. On those who reject this provision there is 
an increase of guilt. 2. Cor. ii. 16; Heb. x. 29. 

IV. Faith in this atoning righteousness and sacrifice 
makes them ours, and justly entitles us to justification 
before God. So that as our text — Rom. iii. 26 — 
declares God is just in justifying him that believetn in 
Jesus. Let us therefore inquire what that faith, that 
peculiar grace is, which secures the justification of the 
soul, and then how it justifies. 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 355 



What is Evangelical Faith ? 



I. It is distinguished from charity, which is the state 
of the heart. It is a synonym, — i. e.^ charity is a syn- 
onym for the word "love," "kindness." It is the 
grace of impartation, — impartation universal, and of 
embrace universal for that which is pure. This is 
indeed in faith, but it is not faith. 

II. It is not hope. Hope is desire and expectation. 
AVhat a man desires and expects, that he hopes for. 
With this grace faith is often blended, but from it, it 
should ever be distinguished. 

III. Affirmatively. Faith, like hope, is made up of 
two parts, — Fidelity and Trust. In other words it is 
sticking to and trusting in. It holds fast, and uncondi- 
tionally confides in. I have thought that Faith and 
Hope are a beautiful pair of graces. Faith is the 
sturdy perfection of athletic manhood, Hope the per- 
fection of genuine loveliness. Beautiful are they when 
together, but Faith more beautiful, when, leaving Hope 
behind, h-e breasts the storm alone. Faith, Hope, 
Charity, like the three holy children. Dan. iii. 

How does Faith Justify? 

I. Faith makes the righteousness and sacrifice of 
Christ our own. It makes them both in the sight of 
God the outgrowth of the believer's heart, /. <?., just the 
same as if the righteousness and sacrifice of Christ 
were our own, and had been wrought out by ourselves. 
All the elements of Christ's righteousness are in faith. 
They are fully developed in Christ, and Christ is 
pledged fully to develop them in the believer. Rom. 
viii. i-io, ix. 30 ; Gal. iii. 9. 

II. Faith does not make void one jot or title of the 
law, yea, it establishes the law. See Rom. iii. 31, Rom. 
i. 17. 

III. To faith God imputes the righteousness of the 
law, or in other words, the righteousness of Christ that 
fulfills it, both his obedience and sacrifice. Rom. iv. 
3;vi.8-25. 



356 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

LECTURE XIII. 
Rom. III. 31. — Justification by Faith. 

Prop. — Justification by faith magnifies the law of 
God. 

I. It makes justification to rest upon nothing short 
of a complete righteousness. 

It will be remembered that the sinner is justified by, 
through, and not for, or on account of faith. Faith 
identifies the believer with Christ, and receives justifi- 
cation only for and under the claims of his righteous- 
ness. Personally it (justification) falls on them as a 
gracious or gratuitous favor; but on the account of 
Christ's imputed righteousness, so that in the eye of 
the Universe, the high and sacred claims of the law 
are fully met. This righteousness of Christ includes 
the sacrifice of himself as the sinner's substitute. This 
also faith appropriates, and thus gives testimony to the 
law's equitable, and sacred, and inflexible demand for 
vengeance. It thus establishes the great fact to the 
universe, that transgression and vengeance are never 
separated, and never can be under the government of 
God. 

II. Justification by faith magnifies both the guilt and 
the fearful results of sin and transgression. 

Even the compassion of God will not — cannot stay 
the vengeance which is due. How inconceivably great, 
cruel and atrocious, is that guilt which deserves such 
vengeance, and which calls for such a sacrifice at the 
hand of God in order to save the transgressor ! 

III. It magnifies God's estimate of his own law and 
his hatred of sin and transgression. Under the press- 
ure of his infinite love he will not pardon till the claims 
of the law have been fully indemnified by the substitu- 
tional sacrifice and righteousness of his only Son. Nor 
then until Christ becomes responsible for the justified 
in himself and pardoned by him in the future. See 
Heb. vii. 22 ; also i Cor. i. 30. 



LECTURES ON EOMANS. 357 

IV. Justification by faith promotes personal holiness. 
So far from being a doctrine of license to sin, as its 
enemies allege, it ensures increasing holiness unto 
perfection. 

1. Faith itself works by love and purifies the heart. 
Faith, evaitgelical faith, by all its saving energy, repels 
sin and promotes holiness. Sin is the opposite of faith, 
which works the cure of sin. 

2. Justification by faith pledges the veracity of 
Christ and the Spirit's power to sanctify and make the 
believer holy, and plies the soul with motives to holi- 
ness of surpassing magnitude and power. The " mark " 
of faith, the prize of faith, and the reward of faith is 
freedom from sin — is holiness. The inspiration of its 
heaven is that there is no sin there — there is holiness 
there. 

3. Justification by faith slays the pride of the heart, 
which probably prompted the first sin of our race, and 
is the demon angel of apostasy still. It promotes hu- 
mility, and arms the soul by all its gracious emotions 
of gratitude for God's saving mercy against sin. 



LECTURE XIV. 
Rom. IV. 2. — Abraham the Prototype of the Believer, 

Prop. — In justifying faith we have Abraham to be 
our father, i. e., Abraham is the prototype of all believ- 
ers, whose faith unites them to Christ as the ground of 
their justification. See Gen. xv. 5, 6 ; also Gal. iii, 16 ; 
also John viii. 56. 

Remark. — The atonement had a retrospective power ; 
by virtue of it Enoch, Noah, and a few pious souls were 
saved. But their perceptions of it must have been 
vague and shadowy. Hint^ of it were given in the ear- 
ly establishment of sacrificial worship, and perhaps in 
ways, to us, unknown. But the Trinity, the Sonship 
of Christ, and the incarnation began more distinctly to 
be revealed to Abraham, especially the incarnation. He 



358 NATHANIEL COLYEE. 

saw the day of Christ — no doubt in the enlightening 
visions of the Spirit opening to him the mysterious 
words of promise. He believed God, and hence by 
faith saw God incarnate in his seed descending through 
Isaac — to the seed in whom all nations of the earth 
should be blessed. The divine Sonship and the sacri- 
fice of that Son, though yet wrapped in much mystery, 
was brought home to his believing, trusting heart, by 
the sacrifice of his own son, so that his faith took hold 
of Christ with the functions of his substitution, his 
righteousness, and his sacrifice. Of that righteousness 
and of that sacrifice his faith took hold and God 
graciously imputed it to him. His faith took hold of 
and appropriated the righteousness of Christ which was 
perfect. And God imputed, not the righteousness of 
his own act of faith even, but the righteousness of 
Christ of which his faith took hold, to him for right- 
eousness ; /. e.y God reckoned the righteousness of 
Christ to Abraham as if it were indeed his own. It is 
this definiteness, this saving effectiveness of his faith 
which makes him the ancient prototype and father of 
all them that believe on Christ. The act of his faith 
was a pious act. In the love of that righteousness 
which his faith set before him were, in embryo, the ele- 
ments of Christ's righteousness. This gave him a liv- 
ing identity with it. In giving him faith, God gave him 
the righteousness which Christ brings near. See Is. 
xlv. 24; Psalms iv, i; Is, xlvi. 13. Here Calvinism 
and Arminianism part company. The latter says that 
it was the act of Abraham's faith that was reckoned to 
him for righteousness — the former, that the object of 
his faith, viz : the righteousness of Christ was imputed 
to him. // was " brought nigh to him ;" his faith took 
hold of it and it was reckoned to him and salvation was 
his. So all that are of like faith, the Apostle says, are 
blessed with (not on account of) faithful Abraham. 
.This matter is put in a very clear light in Paul's refer- 
ence to Abraham in verses 2-5. " For if Abraham were 
justified by works, he would have whereof to glory, but 



LECTURES ON ROMAMS. 359 

not before God. For what saith the Scripture — Abra- 
ham believed God, and it was counted unto him for 
righteousness." Now the act of faith was work. " This 
is the work of God, that ye beHeve on Christ whom he 
hath sent." Now not/(?r, but in this work of faith was 
he blessed. All his works are excluded from the ground 
of his justification ; it was therefore for the sake of, and 
in the rights of the object of his faith — i.e.^ Christ and 
his righteousness, that he was justified. And clearer 
still, it may be, is this passage made by Paul's quotation 
from David — " Even as David also describeth the bless- 
edness of the man unto whom God imputed righteous- 
ness without works, saying, ' Blessed are they whose 
iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. 
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute 
sin.' " 

LECTURE XV. 

Rom. IV. II-I2. — The Seal of Abfaham's Faith. 

Prop. — Abraham received the sign of circumcision 
— a seal of the righteousness of his faith, which he had 
when he was uncircumcised that he might be father or 
prototype of the uncircumcised believer. Under this 
let me notice several things. 

I. When did he receive this seal.? See Gen. xvii. 
Some say fourteen years and some twenty-five years 
after the promise. At any rate it was after Ishmael 
had grown to be a lad and Isaac was born, while the 
promise was given before he left Ur of the Chaldees. 
Then he received it, not for himself, but for otners. 

II. Of what was it a sign, and what did it seal.? Cir- 
cumcision was both a sign and a seal. It was a seal of 
the promise of Christ, and a sign of the cutting off of 
Christ. The figurative signification of circumcision is 
death by the law. It signifies 

I. The cutting off of Christ by the law, he being 
made under the law, and standing as the substitute for 
the Jews under its condemnation. He was cut off for 



360 NATHAKIEL COLVEE. 

them as says Isaiah, " For he was cut off out of the 
land of the living, for the transgression of my people 
was he stricken." Is. liii. S. 

2. It was a seal, not of the righteousness of Abra- 
ham, but of the righteousness of his faith. One can 
conceive of Abraham's being righteous, and yet believ- 
ing and trusting in a promise which might prove untrue ; 
but in that case his faith would not be righteous. It 
would be a delusion. It would be gratifying to know 
that Abraham was righteous or pious, but it is a matter 
of vastly greater moment for after ages to know that 
his faith in the Messiah promised was not a delusion, 
but righteous and truthful. He believed a promise 
which contained the world's hope ; he trusted in the 
Saviour promised ; in his righteousness and sacrifice ; 
the righteousness or truthfulness of that faith would be 
of incalculable interest to those who from that testi- 
mony should believe on the same Christ. Now of the 
righteousness of that faith circumcision was the seal ; 
it marked in the flesh the descendants of Abraham till 
the seed should come to whom and concerning whom 
the promise was made. Circumcision was one of that 
concatenation of circumstances in which it was impos- 
sible for God to lie. See Heb. vi. i8. It sealed the 
truth of the promise, and so the righteousness of that 
faith which relied upon it. True, in giving this seal of 
the promise to Abraham, God provided for the secur- 
ity of the seal itself by the covenant of circumcision. 
See Gen. xvii. 4-14. This covenant does not involve 
salvation, but on God's part the land of their inherit- 
ance, and his providential care over them in their tem- 
poral matters; and on their part they were even at 
the peril of excision to preserve the seal of the right- 
eousness of Abraham's faith by circumcising every 
male child, and thus preserving the people of whom 
the seed should come distinct from all other peoples, 
that it might thus be a witness to a fulfillment of the 
promise, and of the righteousness of that faith which 
took hold of the promise and relied on the promised 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 361 

seed. The' covenant of circumcision which alone se- 
cured anything especially to the Jews was a mere inci- 
dental matter, and overlooked by the Apostle when he 
says, Gal. iii. 17 : "And this I say, that the -covenant 
which was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law 
which was four hundred and thirty years after cannot 
disannul, that it should make the promise of none ef- 
fect." Now dating back four hundred and thirty years 
from the giving of the law you pass the time of making 
the covenant of circumscision ( Gen. xvii. ) by about 
twenty-five years, and come to the time of the promise. 
Gen. xii. And the Apostle adds, (Gal. iii. 19,) "It — 
the law — was added because of transgression till the 
seed should come to whom the promise was made." 
Let it be remembered here that circumcision sealed 
nothing to the one who was circumcised, but in its con- 
tinual administration through all the generations of the 
Jews it sealed or bore testimony to the righteousness 
of Abraham's faith, or the righteousness of that faith 
which Abraham had in the promised seed, to whom and 
on whom all must look and believe in order to be saved. 
Indeed, so far from sealing personal salvation to any 
one who received it, it signified that Christ would be 
cut off, and that he himself must be cut off with him, 
or perish forever. 

LECTURE XVI. 

Rom. rV. II, 12. — Continued, and 16th especially. 

Prop : — The promise of justification and salvation is 
sure to all the seed of Abraham — to all the seed of 
promise. 

I will notice in this lecture two things. 

I. Who are the seed of Abraham to whom it is sure ? 

II. The ground of its surety — being by faith, it is 
of grace. 

I. Who are the seed? It was not his posterity 
through the law — his carnal posterity. Concerning 



362 KATHANEEL COLVEE. 

them God made a covenant with Abraham. See Gen, 
XV. 1 8, and xvii. 9. In pursuance of //zzj- covenant and 
these promises concerning his carnal or fleshly des-- 
cendants, God established the covenant of circumcision 
and subsequently the law covenant with them at Sinai. 
But that of which circumcision in the flesh was a token 
was to them a covenant of death. To this Paul alludes 
in Heb. viii. 7-9. It is typified by Hagar the bonds- 
woman. They wxre thus the legal church in bondage 
under the law, and bound down by the condemnation 
of their covenant broken. So Christ was made of a 
woman, made under the law, (being a Jew) that he 
might redeem them that were under the law — the 
children of the flesh, which are not the children of the 
promise. 

1. The children of Abraham are those of like faith 
with Abraham. See Gal. iii. 6, 7 and 29. Of all such 
Abraham is the prototype and father ; their heirship is 
one with his. 

2. The children of promise are counted for the seed. 
Gal. iii. 16, and iv. 28. Rom. ix. 7-8, and viii. 9. 

II. The promise is true to all the seed as above des- 
ignated. It is sure to all the seed because, being by 
faith, it is of grace. In that is its surety. 

1. Grace has based the promises upon conditions 
fulfilled in Christ. If legal it might fail as in the case 
of Adam, angels and the Jews, but redemption is a 
finished work, — /. ^., the covenant stipulations, which 
pledge both the power and the justice of God for its 
accomplishment. The promises of God, which save, 
are made to the Son, and are yea and amen in Christ 
to the glory of God. 

2. Grace secures the end in the beginning of the 
work. In the bestowment of faith God gives the com- 
mencement of eternal life. Christ in them, in their 
hearts, in the beginning of the work, will be Christ in 
them in its completion. 

3. Grace, which at the infinite expense of the life of 
Christ has begun, will surely complete the work. We 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 363 

have confidence in him that hath surely begun the 
good work in your hearts, that he will carry it on until 
the day of the Lord Jesus. 

LECTURE XVIL 

Rom. V. 1-2. — Peace with God. 

" Being justified by faith we have peace with God 
through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we 
obtain access by faith into the grace wherein we stand 
and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." 

Remark : — Peace with God is the fruit, the result 
of justification by faith. In noticing the peace result- 
ing from justification by faith, the Apostle keeps 
steadily in view the manner of obtaining it, viz., by 
faith and through Christ. This we shall do in contem- 
plating the peace obtained. We, too, should keep 
it steadily in view while we examine this peace with 
God with all its relations and privileges. 

T. We have peace with God's justice — his violated 
law. By faith in Christ, our substitute, we have suf- 
fered its penalty. The utmost farthing of its demand 
for vengeance for our guilty transgression was paid by 
him. Faith in him has transferred that payment to us. 
Our justification in him by faith being complete, and 
secured in the eternal perpetuity of his righteousness, 
our peace with God's justice, with his law, which we 
had violated, is perpetual and eternal. 

IL We have peace from sin. The moral controversy 
of apostate nature, which is like the troubled sea when 
it cannot rest, is conquered by Christ. Faith gives us 
the victory in him. See i John, v. 4. And this is the 
victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 
The very nature which he has given us, in giving us 
faith, cannot sin. Grace ingrafts the word of God into 
the heart, and there under the hand of Christ, it bears 
its own fruit and will bear no other. There it will 
grow, thrive and bear fruit until every natural branch 



364 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

is lopped off, and the scion absorbs and becomes the 
whole tree. Col. iii. i6. "Let the word of Christ 
dwell in you richly," etc. Jas. i. 21. "Receive with 
meekness the ingrafted word." But again, Christ has 
pledged our perfection in holiness ; faith takes hold of 
that pledge, and so we have peace from sin. i. Cor. i. 
30. " But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God 
is made unto us wisdom," etc. Christ being made of 
God sanctification and righteousness to us, we are 
accepted of God in Christ as if we were now righteous 
and already sanctified, and our redemption is complete. 
It is a finished work. 2. Thes. ii. 13. "Because God 
from the beginning chose you to salvation through 
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." 
God in choosing them from the beginning pledged the 
energies of his Spirit for their sanctification. Ephes. v. 
26, 27. "That he might sanctify and cleanse it," — 
that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not 
having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it 
should be holy and without blemish. Remark that the 
perfected holiness of the church was the object of 
Christ's death. Faith says surely his life will accom- 
plish that for which it was once laid down. Phil, iii, 
12. " Not as if I had already attained," etc. Appre- 
hended of Christ for perfection — faith expects it, 
and presses after it, so that being justified by faith, 
faith secures and hails the victory over the disturbing 
element of sin, and gives us even now the peace of 
holiness. 

III. We have the peace of restored loyalty with its 
attendant privileges, citizenship and protection. By 
faith we have access into this grace wherein we stand. 
We are introduced into a state, a relation of peace. 
There is in it something secure, perm.anent and abid- 
ing. It is a state in which we standi and have entered 
not as a transient visitor, but to a state in which we 
-have a standing — a citizenship. This world in the 
economy of redemption is regarded as a revolted em- 
pire, and doomed as rebels against God, and Christ, 



LECTUEES ON ROMANS. 365 

as having purchased' a peace in our behalf. The 
divine reign is restored in Christ. As one of us, and 
as- the head of the restored, Christ has a peace of his 
own into which by faith we are introduced, — a state 
of peace, in which we hold our relations to God in 
him, and of which state all the rights of citizenship are in 
him. John xiv. 27. " My peace I give unto you, not 
as the world giveth, give I unto you." His peace 
given in eternal right, and under the hand of almighty 
power ; the instability of earthly bestowments did not 
belong to it. See Ephes. ii. 19. "Know therefore ye 
are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow- 
citizens with the saints, and of the household of God," 
and this through Christ. Ibid, verses 13 and 14. "But 
now ye, in Christ Jesus, who were sometime afar off, 
are made nigh by the blood of Christ ; for he is our 
peace who hath made both one." They are hence- 
forth his household to be cared for, his empire to be 
guarded and protected, and stones in the temple of his 
glory. 

LECTURE XVIII. 

Rom. V. 3-5. — The Fruits of Justification by Faith continued. 

Prop. — Justification by faith does not stop with peace 
with God and its precious privileges. It secures us an 
harvest of good — of benefit from life's afflictions ; it 
converts even them into a source of revenue of joy. 
Tribulations are of two quite distinct classes — the one 
class is composed of those which are disciplinary correc- 
tions from our Heavenly Father's hand, — the other is 
composed of sacrificial sufferings, — sufferings incurred 
in our warfare for Christ — our conflict with sin ; such 
as Christ endured as our great Exemplar in his conflict 
with sin. The former class works our cure, they cor- 
rect us as the chidings of a Father's love ; — the latter 
class not only train for conflict, but work out for us a 
"far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." 
2 Cor. iv. 17. The scars of the veteran soldier are his 



366 NATHANIEL COLYER. 

crown ; to the justified by faith both are an inheritance 
of spiritual advantage; both work our cure, but one 
does more, it works our honor and our glory. 
Notice the order in which they work : — 

I. Tribulation worketh patience ; not in nature, for 
here it works impatience, but under the reign of grace 
even it works patience, a kind of spiritual — not philo- 
sophical, nor stoical, but spiritual — insensibility to pain. 
The living exercise of faith prevents the corroding an- 
guish of afflictions as animal life preserves the stomach 
from being consumed by the powerful gastric juice, 
which is mighty to consume even it, if unprotected by 
life, and converts it into an instrument of health. 

II. Faith works patience, and patience works experi- 
ence ; or to paraphrase it, it works through experience — 
an experimental knowledge of ourselves, of our weakness- 
es, of our necessities, and the experimental knowledge 
of God — of his grace, and of the firm hold he has on 
us, and so it giveth us light in darkness, it teacheth us 
to prize the lamp which God hath given us, it giveth us 
songs in the night, it tames and subdues our carnal, our 
selfish desires, and gives us a conscious victory. The 
crucifixion of Paul to the world crucified the world to 
Paul. It gives us an experimental knowledge of sin, 
which is the fruitful source of all tribulation, and so 
magnifies holiness, which is the normal state that needs 
no medicine. The language of the tried Christian is : 
— " But now I love thy law." 

III. Experience works hope — experience of pain 
and deliverance in the past works desire and expecta- 
tion of deliverance in the future. The night may be 
long and dark, but experience is as oil to the lamp of 
God's word. While it (the night) lasts, it gives assur- 
ance that the morning will come. The more experience, 
the more hope, for " the remembrance of the years of 
the right hand of the Most High," was David's antidote 
for despondency and fear. See Psalm Ixxvii. lo. 

IV. And hope maketh not ashamed. Unreasonable 
as it may seem to the carnal eye, mocked as it often 



LECTUPwES ON ROMANS. 367 

is by seeming delay, and scoffed at by unbelief, yet it 
maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed 
abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost. It has in it 
such a testimony, and that so directly from the hand 
of God that its boldness, its confidence is preserved. 
These glorious results are exclusively the privilege of 
those who have a standing in Divine Grace by faith. 
Faith all the while connects them with the living foun- 
tain of grace, from which issues this sanctifying power, 
which causeth all things to work together for the good 
of God's elect, of them that are called. Faith, afflic- 
tions, patience, experience, and hope are wheels in the 
Divine providence working to a sure end, because and 
only because moved by a power directly emanating 
from the Holy Ghost. This is grace — this is the state 
in which the believer, being justified by faith, stands. 



LECTURE XIX. 

ROM. V. 6-1 1. — Saving Grace — The Perseverance of the Saints, 

Prop. — Grace being sovereign, and its motive being 
in God, is persevering, and is here to accomplish the 
work begun in the hearts of believers. 

I. This is pledged in the death and the resurrection 
of Christ. 

I. In his death. His death was antecedent to all 
virtue in man, while we were yet without strength. It 
was an act free and sovereign, into which the piety of 
the saints did not enter, for as yet they had none ; and 
if they are now or afterwards pious it is the result and 
not the cause of that act. If in the act results were 
taken into the account it was to make those results cer- 
tain in the act. The production and not the existence 
of those results is the motive. Therefore by all the 
costliness of the act, the results are pledged. If no 
motive from the antecedent piety entered into that act 
of Christ, then the act of Christ's death with all its 



868 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

designs and purposes are independent of, and can nev- 
er be affected or disannulled from that source. 

2. This is pledged in view of the object for which he 
died, viz : — The ungodly, "While we were yet in our 
sins." This shows conclusively that man's necessities 
and not his virtues entered into the motives o± redeem- 
ing grace. If these necessities pressed for the com- 
mencement of the work upon the Divine mind, they will 
press for equal success in its completion. If anything 
transpiring in the creature could nullify or change the 
purpose of that work, it must have been foreseen, and 
would have prevented the work itself. Whatever were 
the purposes of Christ in that act, they must have been 
purposes of mercy to the lost — the vile. The desire 
of their recovery must have moved to the act ; it fol- 
lows that the accomplishment of that object was pledged 
in the act itself. 

3. This is pledged in the peculiar and antecedent 
character of God's love in giving his Son to die. It 
was not only " while we were yet sinners," that Christ 
died for us, but it was then that God loved us. In an- 
other place it is said that " God so loved the world," 
etc. ; but in this it is different, for " God commendeth 
his love toward uSy in that while we were yet sinners 
Christ died for ^i-;" "The Good Shepherd giveth his 
life for the sheep ;" hence the inference of the Apostle 
is conclusive — " Much more, then, being justified by his 
blood, we should be saved from wrath through him." 
If the love of Almighty God began the work at such 
expense, he will not fail to carry it out. To begin the 
work involved infinite suffering, to complete it involves 
the exercise of infinite power ; and if the love of God 
will not stop at the former, it surely will not stop at the 
latter 

4. It is pledged in the life of Christ. " If when we 
were enemies, we were reconciled by his death, mucn 
more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life." 
The death of Christ reconciled us to God by paying the 
debt which we owed to justice, and then by giving us 



LBCTUEES ON ROMANS. 369 

faith ; in the exercise of the rights which his death 
secured to him, he gave us faith which made that pay- 
ment ours, and so the reconciliation was complete. And 
now when he has already accomplished all this by his 
death, surely by his life the work will be carried forward 
to completion, — his living power will perfect that which 
his dying sacrifice has begun. 

5, This is pledged by the earnest of heaven, enjoyed 
by those who are reconciled by his death. " Not only 
so, but we also joy in God, through our Lord Jesus 
Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." 
The atonement, the reconciliation, was made when 
Christ died ; that is, all the conditions of our salvation 
— our peace with God, — were wrought when Christ 
died. And now believers having received by faith 
that reconciliation, being justified by faith and having 
a standing in the grace of God, the very joy of heaven 
has commenced in their hearts. For before, they had 
joyed in themselves ; they had joyed in the world, in 
its carnal pleasures, but now they joy in God. This is 
something new ; this joy in God is a well of living 
waters, springing up unto eternal life. 

'T is heaven begun below, 
The bliss of heaven to know 
E'en here. 



LECTURE XX. 

RoM. V. 12, ad Jinem, omitting parenthesis. 

Salvation and damnation through two federal heads. 
The first and second Adam, 

Prop. I. Condemnation came through the first Adam ; 
" by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by 
sin," If in the first transgression there are mysteries 
we cannot solve, there are facts that we can know. 
It is a fact that Adam sinned ; there is another fact 
equally obvious in metaphysics, viz., that in the order 
of nature the sinner is before the sin; only a sinner 
24 



370 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

sins. Sin is in the nature of him that sins. Sin 
entered into the world by entering into our nature, by- 
infecting our race. Since Adam was made there has 
been no new creation ; in every birth Adam has been 
multiplied ; sin entered into all when it entered him. 
I leave the " how it entered " a mystery to be solved 
by the Counsellor in his own time. I take the facts as 
they are. Sin entered ! No matter how sin comes, so far 
as its character is concerned. It involves the guilt of 
the sinner. If there was guilt in the act, there was 
guilt in the nature that conceived the act, at least, in 
the sight of God. "And death by sin." Matthew 
Henry says, " Death spiritual, temporal and eternal." 
In one sense, all the woes of earth are the results of 
sin, but speaking strictly, only the last is the penalty. 
The decisions of the judgment will inflict the penalty 
of sin; from that penalty Christ saves his people. 
That penalty entered with the entrance of sin, and 
from the moment of transgression it hung over the 
transgressor and his sinning race ; and it hung there in 
equity and justice, based solely upon the guilt of the 
transgressor. And so death has passed upon all, for 
that all have sinned. It passed upon all precisely as 
it passed upon him — Adam. It passed upon all in 
him ; all were in him. Had Adam been brought to 
judgment at once, all our race had perished in him. 
As Adam was multiplied, the race increased in him, 
the federal head. Like him they sinned in him and 
out of him; and death passed upon them as it did 
upon him. By his sin many were made sinners; he 
was our vital and our federal head ; and all became 
sinners in him ; and were doomed in him as their rep- 
resentative head. 

Prop. II. So then as through one trespass, judgment 
came upon all men to condemnation, so also through 
one righteous act the free gift came upon all men, unto 
justification of life. "For as through the disobedience 
of one man the many were made sinners^ so also through 
the obedience of one will the many be made righteous." 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 371 

The word " made " is by some translated " constituted," 
but I see but little difference in the words. In Web- 
ster, "made" is one of the expletives of "constituted." 
I think divines have pushed this distinction too far ; 
they would seem to have it, that the sin from the fed- 
eral head was simply constructive sin, /. e.^ reckoned 
sinners for his sake, when they personally were not 
sinners. And so with Christ, the second Adam ; they 
interpret the words " made " or " constituted righteous " 
to mean that believers are justified by a purely con- 
structive righteousness, while it strikes me that in both 
cases, the basis of the interpretation is their vital unity 
with both the sin and the righteousness of their res- 
pective representative heads, i. e., by the impartation 
of sin by the one, and of righteousness by the other. 
I use the words " organic " and " representative," 
instead of the word " federal," or " federative," as more 
exactly expressing the relation of both Adam and 
Christ to their respective posterity. They are both, as 
it seems to me, the organic and the representative head, 
by no federal compact, but by a strictly organic struct- 
ure, — a legitimate, equitable, or inherent relation. 
Sinners are condemned, not for Adam's act, but for 
Adam's sin, because Adam's sin is in them. And be- 
lievers are justified, not for Christ's righteous act, but 
because Christ's righteousness is in them. True, in both 
cases the sin and the righteousness of the two organic 
and representative heads are imputed to them, and I 
would add, truthfully imputed, because both the sin and 
the righteousness are imparted. This position differs a 
little from what is generally esteemed orthodox ; I wish 
you to receive it with care and investigation. I do not 
object to the doctrine of imputation, but of imputation 
without transformation or transmission. To imputation 
without transmission, there are, it seems to me, objec- 
tions difficult to be disposed of. The Arminians hold 
that the death of Christ saves children from the condem- 
nation of Adam's sin, while they are not sinners them- 
selves, but pure, which is tantamount to saying, that if 



372 NATHANIEL COLVEK. 

Christ had not died, though personally innocent, God 
would have condemned them. This would make 
Christ to have died, not merely to save sinners, but to 
prevent God from condemning the innocent. Such a 
position is an impeachment of God, the habitation of 
whose throne is justice and judgment. See Ezekiel 
xviii. 2-4. I repeat, with imputation without trans- 
mission, it is difficult to answer this objection. So on 
the other hand, if imputation be without transmission, 
then why is faith indispensable to justification? Yet 
justification without faith is unknown to the Bible. 
I add, that imputation of righteousness to any one 
who has not received it by faith is equally unknown. 
Faith makes the righteousness of Christ our own, not 
merely in right, but in possession. With the heart 
man "believeth unto righteousness." The love of the 
righteousness of Christ in the heart, is the righteous- 
ness of Christ in the heart. Just as truly as the love 
of Adam's sin is .Adam's sin in the heart ; herein is 
Adam the figure of Christ. So far, transmission, 
and organic and representative imputation are alike 
and in both cases, equitable, and in harmony with the 
individuality of manhood, and the imputation strictly 
just. There is a difference between the two organic 
and representative heads noticed by the apostle from 
the 13th to thp 17 th verses. 

LECTURE XXI. 

Rom. V. 21. — The Reign of Grace and the Reign of Sin Com' 

pared and Contrasted. 

I will first notice more distinctly the analogy between 
these two reigns of the first and second Adam, and 
then the contrast. 

I. Both sin and righteousness reign to their respec- 
tive ends, viz., death and life, by the vital energy of their 
own presence. The "virus" of sin and the "vis" of 
righteousness are co-extensive with their respective 



LECTURES ON EOMANS. 373 

reigns They are co-extensive with the reign of judg- 
ment through sin unto death, and the reign of grace 
through righteousness unto life. The guilt of the first 
sin from the organic head is transfused through the 
race, by virtue of which death reigns, or in other words 
judgment reigns through sin unto death. It slays the 
sin?ier only; even so by the transfusion of righteousness 
from Christ, the organic head of his race, his spiritual 
race, grace reigns through righteousness (not arbi- 
trarily), but through righteousness unto eternal life. 
And in this the first Adam is a perfect figure of the 
second. As is the earthy, such are they also who are 
earthy, and as is the heavenly, such are they who are 
heavenly. In both we can see how the words of the 
Apostle are verified ; — " by one many are made si7i- 
ners," and are judged in equity to death, and "by one 
many are, made righteous,'" and are legitimately judged 
to eternal life. I understand in both cases that the word 
''''many'' is the antithesis of the word ''''one,'' and not 
strictly numerical. In another respect, the analogy of 
the two reigns is strikingly apparent, viz., the entrance 
of the statutory law by Moses commenced the reigns 
of both sin and grace. From Adam to Moses death 
reigned because from Adam to Moses sin reigned in 
the race, but with this distinction — it was not in trans- 
gression of statutory but of strictly moral law ; in car- 
nal and selfish hostility to holiness. The moral law 
— the law of righteousness — is eternal, and its appeals 
to sentient beings constant and authoritative. Against 
this law the antediluvians and the antelegalists sinned, 
and hence over them judgment reigned through sin 
unto death. Their sin was more against the nature 
than the person of God, but when the law entered, the 
controversy became personal, and sin put on its most 
fearful type of rebellion against God. It hurled its 
hostility against the righteous enactments of God. 
The law worked wrath and enhanced the guilt and 
doom of the transgressor. Even so in overcoming 
this abounding sin did grace abound. Christ was made 



374 NATHANIEL COLVER. ' 

of a woman; made under the law that he might 
redeem them, who were under the law. He took his 
position with the legally condemned Jews, that he 
might reach the extreme of human transgression. For 
this is grace prepared, and herein magnified, that it 
can reign through righteousness over such, to eternal 
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. So that in this also the 
first Adam is a true figure of the second, and the reign 
of sin and the reign of grace are analogous. The law 
causes both to abound ; by it both are magnified. Let 
me remark that this analogy shows the extent and 
limitation of the word "all " as used in verse i8. It is 
co-extensive with, and limited to, the two races to 
which it refers. The judgment came upon all the men 
of the first Adam's race, and the free gift upon the men 
of the second Adam's race unto justification of life. 
The carnal seed and the spiritual seed were alike, and 
shared with their respective organic heads. The 
analogy is perfect. 

II. But now comes a difference, and one which the 
Apostle has marked with peculiar emphasis. See verse 
15. "But not as the offence, so is the free gift." Also 
verse 16. "And not as it was by one that sinned, so 
is the gift," etc. 

The structure of these passages seems to render 
them difficult of explication, but if I understand them, 
and I think I do, this is their meaning. In the case 
of the first Adam the organic transfer of guilt, and its 
representative imputation was purely legitimate and 
legal. All this is true of 'the second Adam, — the 
organic impartation and the representative imputation 
being equally legitimate and lawful. Yet in the latter 
the bestowment or establishment of the relation itself, 
and of its results, was all a matter of sovereign and 
gratuitous favor and grace. It was of grace to choose 
already under just and lawful condemnation. True, 
indeed, in thus extending and magnifying its reign it 
magnified the law, — it was through righteousness. But 
it was not the reign of law, but the reign of grace, free, 



LECTXJRES ON EOMANS. 375 

sovereign grace still. Well might the apostle say, " not 
as the offence, so is the free gilt." The distinction is 
obvious. 

There is also another difference equally strikingly 
indicated by the words "much more," in the 17th 
verse, which see. The argument is, — if by one man's 
sin, death reigned over his race ; /. ^., if, as we have 
seen to be the case, those identified with Adam in his 
transgression died, much more shall those identified 
with the second Adam, or Christ (as we have seen), 
reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. To the organic and 
legal cause of the results in both cases, is added in 
the case of the second Adam the free grace of God. 
This latter relation brings with it the efficiency of an 
almighty head, and the grace and favor, free and sov- 
ereign, gushing from the heart of God and pledging 
almightiness for the accomplishment of its reign. How 
much more ! The one has legitimacy and law to back 
it; the other also has legitimacy, organic legitimacy, 
and law to back it also, and far more, the pledged 
almightiness of God for the efficiency of its reign unto 
eternal life. How much more ! Yes, he may say, — 
" much more shall they which have received the gift of 
righteousness and the abundance of grace reign in life 
by one, Jesus Christ." But let it be noticed that the 
excess, the superabundance so distinctly marked in 
the reign of grace, is not in the excess of numbers over 
whom it reigns, but of its efficiency to crown with 
everlasting life. 

If this be the correct interpretation then the analogy 
between the first and second Adam is beautiful indeed, 
but the contrast is glorious, 

LECTURE XXII. 

Rom. VI. 1-2. 

Prop. — Salvation by grace a law of holiness, and no 
license to sin. 

So far from destroying the bulwarks of righteousness 



376 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

and giving license to sin, the reverse is true. It both 
secures and enjoins righteousness. This is an old and 
vicious objection from the enemies of God. If grace 
is magnified by the abounding of sin, let us sin that 
grace may abound ; the conception of this objection 
indicates entire ignorance of every motive of right- 
eousness, supposing it to be in the selfish desire of 
security alone. And further, that if the people of 
God could be assured that God would surely save 
them, every motive to holiness is gone. Mischievous 
as this objection is, it is not to be avoided by the Armin- 
ian scheme of denying such efficiency of grace and still 
conditioning the salvation of believers to what they 
shall or shall not do. To this objection the Bible 
furnishes an effectual answer, and that, too, without 
invalidating the saving efficiency of grace. 

I. Grace saves actually only as it saves from sin. 
Its first act in the saved is to break the reigning power 
of sin by turning the heart to God and to the hatred of 
sin " How shall we that are dead to sin, live any 
longer therein," being made free from sin, ye became 
the servants of God. The Arminian motive of fear 
may restrain the vile, but it is love, which grace plants 
in the heart, which begins the radical reform. Can 
that grace give license to sin whose especial work upon 
man is to subdue him to righteousness ? But, — 

II. Decretive and perfected salvation is but decre- 
tive and perfected righteousness. "Grace reigns 
through righteousness unto eternal life," Rom. v. 21. 
Notice both the might and the mannei of the reign of 
grace — "it reigns through righteousness.'^ How then 
shall its subject continue in sin } " Grace has chosen 
them that they should be holy." See Ephes. i. 4. 
Having begun the work of reform in the heart, grace 
will carry it on until the day of the Lord Jesus. See 
Phil. i. 6, and i. Cor. i. 30. "Who of God is made 
unto us sanctification and r edemption. He is our 
surety that the work shall be accomplished." How 
then shall grace encourage sin when the eradication of 
sin is its especial work } 



LECTURES ON EOMAMS. 377 

III. Grace is an argument against sin, because it 
presents motives to holiness of surpassing power. 

1. Sin is incompatible with our relation to Christ. 
Christ died unto sin once, and by our baptism we were 
immersed into his death. We professed in that ordi- 
nance to have died with him to sin ; by faith and with 
brokenness of heart we accepted his death as our sub- 
stitute that we might be freed from the dreadful pen- 
alty of sin. Well, therefore, may the Apostle ask — 
" How shall we who are dead to sin live any longer 
therein.'* " The act of sin gives the lie to our experi- 
ence, and to our testimony in the ordinance of baptism. 

2, Again, in our baptism we vowed a new life of 
consecration to Christ, that as we had been in the like- 
ness of his death we would be or should be in the like- 
ness of his life from the dead. We there nailed the 
old, the carnal man, to the cross. We renounced the 
service of sin for the service of Christ. Knowing this 
(verse 6) that our old man was crucified with him that 
the body of sin might be destroyed in order that we 
should no longer be in bondage to sin, well may he 
add — "So also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed 
to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ." Let 
not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies. " Sin 
shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under 
law but under grace," There is an argumentative plea 
for holiness in the fact that we are under the reign 
of grace. What then ! Shall w^e sin because we are 
not under law but under grace.? God forbid. It is 
meet for the servants of sin to serve him. The service 
indicates to the servant his master. Having a new 
master, even Christ, a new service is demanded. To 
this new service their bodies, (once the instruments 
of sin unto death) should now be yielded the instru- 
ments of righteousnesss unto holiness and newness of 
life. For their freedom from the service of sin, and 
their consecration to the service of righteousness, the 
Apostle thanks God. See verses 19-23. This appro- 
priate exhortation comes to Christians, putting them 



378 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

upon their guard against the former prostitution of 
their bodies, through the shameful uncleanness and 
iniquity of sin, the fruit whereof was death. But now 
(verse 22) he hails them as freed from sin and as the 
servants of God, and as having their fruit unto holi- 
ness, and the end — everlasting life. For the wages 
of sin is death. But the gift — the gracious bestow- 
ment of God — is life eternal. The life he gives is the 
life of holiness, and it is eternal. Nothing can be more 
carnal and devilish than the thought of making grace, 
sovereign, efficient and free, promotive of an apology 
for sin. 

LECTURE XXIII. 

Rom. VII. 4. — Believers Lawfully Married to Christ. 

Prop. I. Christians become dead to the law by the 
body of Christ. 

I. Their legal state. By the law here I understand 
the Mosaic code (the ten commandments) with all the 
rituals that follow. To it they were bound both as regards 
the rule and condition of life. Obedience to it was life. 
Any infraction was condemnation and death. It, the 
law, was holy, just and good. It was ordained to life. 
In loyalty is the life of all the holy. See verses 10-12. 
The law was a good husband, but the sinner a traitor- 
ous wife. True, the law in itself is good and life-giving, 
but while we were under it, " the motions of sin which 
were by the law, did work in our members to bring 
forth fruit unto death." The adulterous inclinations 
of the false wife chafed and raged to surpassing guilt 
under the just and life-preserving restraints of the law; 
and thereby incurring death at the hand of the law, or 
of the outraged husband. The goodness of the hus- 
band reveals and magnifies the guilt and treachery of 
the wife. Now while under those legal bonds the sin- 
ner could not be united to Christ. Before Christ could 
touch to save, those bonds must be dissolved by the 
death of the guilty party. The demands of the just 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 379 

law were Inexorable ; with those demands the love of 
Christ would not trifle ; yea he would honor them to 
the utmost. 

2. Believers are dead to the law by the body of 
Christ, how ? In the first place by the convincing 
power of the Holy Ghost. They are made to feel and 
confess the judgment of their doom, and to pass the 
sentence of death upon themselves,. See verses 9-11 
Secondly; that sentence of death was accepted of 
Christ, as the sinner's substitute he endured it. He 
gathered up in himself the penalty due to the trans- 
gressor. The penalty inflicted on him was tantamount 
to that which is due to an apostate world. Let it be 
noticed that the death of Christ makes the punishment 
of the sinner no less just. But it makes it just that 
Christ should take the forfeited life of the transgressor 
into his own sovereign disposal. It is henceforth at 
his option, whether to let the sinner settle with the 
law himself, or through his settlement with the law 
take him under the reign of grace. 

3. By faith in Christ that death becomes ours. 
When by faith we accept that freedom his death pro- 
cures we are by death free from the law — our old hus- 
band. The moment that death is received by us in 
our substitute, we are no longer under the law. 

4. Being thus free from the law, the law is dead to 
us, and no violence is done to its claims though we be 
married to another, which Is Christ, who is raised from 
the dead. Though he take us to share with him his 
life and glory, he does no violence to the claims of 
justice; the law itself comes to the marriage of the 
parties and smiles upon the union. " Judgment and 
mercy kiss each other." " Henceforth," as the apos- 
tle says in another place, "Christ is the head of the 
church, as the husband is the head. of the wife." All 
her rights are held in the rights of her husband — her 
head. And blessed be God there they are all secure. 



380 NATHANIEL COLYER. 

LECTURE XXIV. 

Rom. VII. 15. — Wa7'fare between Holiness and Sin in the Christian. 

The moral taint of sin in our apostate nature is an 
active virus, which though in harmony with the moral 
man, with the heart, with the " ego " of his nature, 
still breeds perpetual disturbance and utter unrest in 
the elements of Nature itself. Conscience and love in 
security are peculiar to moral existence but not to 
moral character. These elements in apostate nature 
may be made to slumber for a season by deception or 
by drugging with carnal pleasure, so that for a time 
their existence will hardly be realized ; but they still 
exist, and will exist while being lasts. These peculiar 
elements of moral existence are disturbed by the inva- 
sion of sin, and just so far as these elements are 
undrugged they will cry out against the corrodings of 
guilt and the dangers of sin; but the heart ever tri- 
umphs in the entertainment of sin against their sinister 
remonstrance. But in this there is kept up a perpetual 
warfare. It is with reference to this inward conflict, 
this utter unrest from the assaults of sin upon the con- 
science and this love of safety which sin violates, that 
the prophet says — (Is. Ivii. 20.) "The wicked are 
like the troubled sea when it cannot rest." Also (Is. 
xlviii. 22.) "There is no peace to the wicked, saith 
my God." By sin the sinner's peace is broken here 
forever, and will be eternally banished when deception 
and moral drugs are no more at his command. While 
sin is one of the warring powers in the elements of 
apostate nature, it is so also i7i the human and carnal 
nature, a warring element against grace in the renewed 
soul. Its aggressive, disturbing and warring power 
will not cease to be experienced by the Christan 
until its entire eradication from his nature — till the 
old man is dead. But between the inward conflict it 
produces in the breast of the sinner and the conflict it 
produces in the breast of the Christian there is a radi- 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 381 

cal and marked difference. That difference and the 
peculiarities of the inward warfare in the saint demands 
our careful investigation. 

The conflict in the breast of the child of God is 
between two natures^ mysteriously blended in one exist- 
ence, viz\ — the spiritual and carnal. The spiritual 
nature with the law of God written in its restored 
moral elements and destined to the renovation and 
restoration of the whole man, and the animal or carnal 
nature yet to be recovered, but yet not recovered and 
still subject to the reigning power of sin. The con- 
flict in the Christian is between sin in the carnal and 
grace in the spiritual nature. To all practical intents 
there are two ^^ egos'' in the Christian; there is "I," 
the God-loving and God-fearing spirit — the seed of 
Christ, and there is "I," the carnal man subject to 
the reign of sin. " I," the carnal man, is destined to 
be conquered and subdued by "I," the spiritual man, 
and until " I," the carnal man is utterly subdued by 
" I," the spiritual man, the conflict will last. " I," the 
spiritual man serves the law of Christ, while " I," the 
carnal man serves the law of sin. The blending of the 
spiritual and of the carnal natures in the existence is a 
mystery not to be solved by mortal apprehension, while 
the fact is obvious. Even so the process of grace in 
recovering these two blended natures is a mystery no 
less profound, but the Bible very clearly states the fact 
of the recovering work of grace, and the manner or the 
order of its recovering process. In the new birth the 
mind, the spirit is born again by the spirit of God. It 
is begotten of God and bears the image of God. It 
wears a moral newness, is indeed a new creature. The 
" ego^'' the " I," the new man serves the law of Christ, 
while the carnal nature (meaning all that makes up our 
animal nature) remains to be conquered and subdued. 
From the moment of this new life in the spirit begins 
the moral conflict within. The powers of this new 
"<?^^," this new man may be weak, infantile, at its new 
birth and slow in maturing its strength ; falter it may, 



382 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

aye, and fall it may in its terrible conflict, brought into 
captivity with sin it may be, but the life of God is in 
it, and the strength of God its never failing resource; 
and rise up it will, escape from its temporary bonds it 
will, and conquer at last it will. This distinction 
between our two natures, and these parties to the 
inward warfare of the saint are clearly recognized by 
the Apostle when he says : — (verse 14.) "But /am 
carnal sold under sin." This is the carnal "<^^." 
Omitted here verse 15, and again (verse 18): — "For 
I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no 
good thing." And inverse 19 — "For the good that 
I would, I do not ; but the evil that I would not, that 
I do." And in verses 22 and 23 — " For 1 delight in the 
law of God after the inward man ; but I see another 
law in my members^ warring against the law of my mind, 
etc." It is evident in all these passages the Apostle 
recognizes and refers to two ^'' egos " in his own person. 
One of the ''''egos'' is carnal, sold under sin — does 
evil, is destitute of every good thing, and subject to 
the law of sin, warring against the law of mind, and 
even taking the spirit captive to the law of sin, or ever 
striving to do so. But the other "<?§"<?" — the spiritual 
^^ ego'' — disallows sin, hates sin, vindicates the law; if 
drawn into sin, it is not a volunteer, but a captive ; it 
delights in the law of God and serves the law of God. 
And (verse 24) he deplores his affiliation with the car- 
nal man, this "body of death," and cries out for deliv- 
erance. To sum up the truth concerning this inward 
warfare we may state 

1. It is not as in the case of the impenitent sinner a 
conflict between the love of sin in the heart, and the 
apprehension of its fearful results and the lashings of a 
guilty conscience. But 

2. It is a conflict between the reign of righteousness 
m the renewed spirit, and the reign of sin in our carnal 
natures. 

3. The paradox — the Christian 
Does not sin, and does sin. 



LECTTTRES ON ROIVIANS. 383 

Hates sin and yet sins, 

Confesses sin and disavows sin, 

Dead to sin and yet sins, 

Cannot sin and yet, sinning, has an advocate with 
the Father. I repeat, this strange paradox is explained 
by the two natures blended in our being, — the two 
moral "egos" — the renewed spirit, and the natural 
or carnal man or manhood which under the respective 
reigns of grace and sin war upon each other. 

4. This conflict is obstinate and intense oftentimes, 
and when the combatants are left to themselves the 
spiritual ^' ego " might well cry out in view of the fierce 
and formidable powers of his adversary : " I shall one 
day fall by the hand of Saul," or might well apprehend 
that the chains of his captivity would be perpetual. 
The new man itself, enfeebled with sin, has its match 
and often its vindictive master in its carnal foe. 

5. God has furnished the ego of the new man with a 
spiritual resource in Christ to hold in subjection, to 
mortify, yea, to crucify the old, the carnal man. It is 
both his privilege and his duty to do so. To this end 
the panoply of God, the breast-plate, the shield, and 
the sword, and hence the command of the Master to 
"watch, fight, and pray." 

6. This conflict is the occupation of our pilgrimage. 
It is the prerogative of faith to fight manfully by the 
way and to achieve a glorious victory in its combat 
with the world, the flesh and the devil while here, but at 
the taking of the city the king will be present. Fight 
and wound, and crucify and keep under the old man 
we may, but the coming of the Master will lay the old 
man, the carnal man down in death. The final victory 
of faith will be won in the presence of the King, and 
the weapons of our warfare be laid down at his feet. 
The perfected will sing at home, where holiness reigns 
and sin can never come. - 



384 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

LECTURE XXVI. 
Rom. VIII. I-20. 

Prop. The relation of the believer to Christ renders 
his justification complete and irrevocable, henceforth 
no condemnation can reach him. Let us notice in the 
first place the relation which faith establishes between 
the believer and Christ, and then some of the benefits 
which flow from that relation as noticed somewhat in 
detail by the Apostle in this most interesting and con- 
soling chapter. 

I. The relation. The believer is said to be in Christ 
Jesus; verse i. " There is therefore now no condemna- 
tion to them which are in Christ Jesus." In our lect- 
ure upon the analogy between the two headships, the 
first and second Adam, it was seen that the believer is 
in Christ both as his organic and his covenant head. 
We repeat that idea. It is the province of faith to 
unite the believer with Christ as his organic or spiritual 
— vital Head, and also as his legal and representative 
Head. It is this relation with its fruits which is dis- 
cussed by the Apostle in the previous chapters where he 
says, " there is now, therefore^ no condemnation " etc. It 
is as much as if he had said — "therefore seeing it so; 
seeing that believers are a race, — a generation, each 
of which bears the moral image of his progenitor, — a 
race inheriting as the legal heirs the estate of their 
progenitor ; aye, seeing that they are dead to the law 
by the body of Christ, and married to him who is alive 
from the dead, and that he is their marital head — 
seeing that believers sustain this relation to Christ, 
"there is now, therefore," he may well say, "no con- 
demnation for them." There can be none ; their just- 
ification is complete and is established that it cannot 
fail. But that we may more fully understand the rela- 
tion which faith establishes between the believer and 
Christ, and its glorious results, let us follow the Apos- 
tle in his further detail of the benefits which the 
believer derives from it. 



LECTUEES ON EOMANS. 385 

II. The benefits. — i. He is therefore freed from the 
law of sin. Henceforth while sin may be the acci- 
dent — the vexation and the plague of his life, it can 
nevermore be the law of his life. See v. 2. "For the 
law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me 
free from the law of sin and death." The law of sin 
is the law of death — moral death; "men are dead in 
trespasses and sins;" the reign of sin in the heart of 
the sinner is the inexorable law of moral death. The 
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus quickens from 
that death — " you hath he quickened who were dead in 
trespasses and sins." Ephes, ii, i. By the infusion 
of his own life into the sinner, once dead in sin, he 
frees him from the law of sin and death. Henceforth 
he lives with Christ who is his life ; enfeebled the spirit 
may be by the long torpor of moral death ; entangled 
and ensnared it may be by its mysterious union with 
its animal — its earthy appendage, the carnal man; 
captivated it may be by sin, but die it cannot — the life 
of Christ is in it — a volunteer it cannot be, its allegi- 
ance to sin is forever broken. The life of Christ, or 
in other words, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ 
Jesus, has forever freed him from sin as a law of life. 

2 Christ fulfills the righteousness of the law in them, 
" for what the law could not do in that it was weak 
through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the like- 
ness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the 
flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be ful- 
filled in us." The law was weak through the flesh or 
the opposition of the carnal mind, — it could only con- 
demn and not cure. Bound by the law of a carnal 
life, the soul could in no-wise free itself. God saw 
this, and in compassion sent his Son " in the likeness 
of sinful flesh and for sin ;" or as Matthew Henry has 
it, " a sacrifice for sin,'' and " so condemned (punished) 
sin in the flesh." It was thus he freed us from the con- 
demning power of the law, that he might in the new- 
covenant of grace free us from the carnal law of sin, 
that we henceforth should not live after the flesh, 
25 



386 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

and also to subject us to the law of the Spirit of life 
in Christ Jesus. We are become dead to the law by 
the body of Christ, and dead to sin by the life of Christ, 
into which life we are quickened by^the Spirit, which 
Spirit henceforth becomes the law of our life, instead 
of the law of sin and death. The Spirit of life in 
Christ Jesus is the law of every Christian's life, and 
sin is not the law, but the exception. 

As many as are ledhy the Spirit of God they are the 
Sons of God — "except the Spirit of Christ be in you, 
ye are none of his." " There is now, therefore, no con- 
demnation to them — who walk not after the flesh, but 
after the Spirit." The Apostle labors to make this dis- 
tinction apparent; "for they that are after the flesh, do 
mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the 
Spirit, the things of the Spirit ; " " for to be carnally 
minded (or ruled) is death, but to be Spiritually mind- 
ed (ruled or led) is life and peace ; " and he assigns the 
reason — "the carnal mind is enmity against God, is 
not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be ; 
so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God, 
but ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be 
the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have 
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. " So that we 
have this truth, viz: — The spirit of the Believer is 
freed from the carnal and subjected to the Spirit's law. 

I. The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in the 
Christian; in the motions of the new life within him. 
The perfect law is written on his heart; or in his spirit- 
ual nature. Love is the fulfilling of the law; the 
renewed spirit is " created in righteousness and true holi- 
ness. '' The renewed spirit accepts the perfect law; it 
will be satisfied with nothing but the perfect law ; the 
law speaks its own perfect language in the spirit's love 
to God — love to holiness, and in its hatred to sin; in 
all these respects the righteousness of the law is ful- 
- filled in them. Defective the spirit may be, nay, is, in 
quality, its struggles against the carnal nature and its 
law ; and in this very struggle, it is the righteousness 
of the law that struggles in them. 



LECTURES ON EOMANS. 387 

2. The righteousness of the law is fulfilled not only 
in but by us. Hence believers ''''walk not after the flesh, 
but after the Spirit;" they ^^walk." The habitual rule 
of their life is the law of holiness, justice, and truth. 
The condemnation of sin in the body of Christ has 
freed them from the law as a covenant of life that they 
might embrace the law as a law of life ; they are freed 
from the curse of the law that they may be restored to 
their allegiance to the law; they are not under law but 
under grace, that with the Author of grace they may 
fulfil the law, and honor all its claims. " Do we then 
make void the law through faith.'' God forbid; yea, we 
establish the law." Chap. iii. 31. The renewed spirit 
is, if I may so speak, the law-written spirit ; weak it is, 
and as yet permeated with sin through its mysterious 
and painful connection with carnal nature, but it is on 
the side of God, and his law. In harmony with this 
is the testimony of i John iii. i-io. Upon this he 
insists with emphasis as a cardinal principle ; about 
this he would not have them deceived. With what 
earnestness he says (v. 7.) — "Little children, let no 
man deceive you; he that doeth righteousness is right- 
eous even as he is righteous." The law of God is ful- 
filled in and by the renewed spirit — by all that are born 
of God. Observe, he still further insists (verse 10-17) 
— that the spirit is made right, and on this fact he 
suspends all our hopes of eternal life — he labors with 
solemn energy to make deception on this point impos- 
sible ; deception here is fatal to the soul's eternal in- 
terests. 

The struggle is between the renewed and sanctified 
spirit and the carnal mind. Nothing can be more 
pointed than his plain and earnest declarations upon 
this point. Verse 10. "And if Christ be in you, the 
body is dead because of sin ; " it is doomed in the law 
of its uncured enmity, "but the spirit is life because of 
righteousness." Verse 11. "But if the spirit of him 
that raised Jesus up from the dead dwell in you, he 
that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken 



388 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." 
Verses 12,13. " Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, 
not to the flesh to live after the flesh, for if ye live 
after the flesh ye shall die, but if ye through the Spirit 
do mortify the deeds of the flesh ye shall live." Now 
this solemn warning, this fearful assurance is pred- 
icated upon a recognized fact, viz : that none are the 
children of God but such as are led by the Spirit of 
God, for they are the sons of God. Verse 14: "For 
ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to 
fear, but the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry — 
Abba, Father." Verse 16: "The Spirit itself beareth 
witness with our spirit that we are the children of 
God," /. ^., all the children are led by the Spirit of 
God, and the Spirit in them and by them owns the 
relation. It cries Abba, Father. "The Spirit itself 
beareth witness with our spirit that we are born of 
God," /. ^., born of the Spirit of God ; we turn back to 
God crying Abba, Father. It is thus the Spirit testi- 
fies in the God-ward bent of our own spirit, that we 
are born of God. And (verse 17) it is in this renewed 
nature, this renewed spirit, made subject to and con- 
trolled by the Spirit in its filial yearnings that God has 
written our heirship, our title to be glorified with 
Christ. "And if children^ then heh^s^ heirs of God and 
joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suff"er with him, 
that we may be glorified together." 

We cannot mistake the Apostle — the spirits of all 
the children of God are holy now ; are righteous now ; 
the law is fulfilled in their spirit now; and henceforth 
the conflict is between the spirit and the flesh, or the 
carnal mind. The war is indeed in the spirit only as 
the carnal mind invades, vexes and strives with it. 

LECTURE XXVII. 

Rom. VIII. 18-27. 

Prop. — Perfection looked for only in the redemption 
of the body. 

The substance of what I wished to say in this 



LECTURES OX ROMANS. 389 

Lecture is stated in the 24th and 25th verses: "For 
we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not 
hope, for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 
But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with 
patience wait for it." 

The salvation of the believer is not perfected in this 
life ; the decisions of grace concerning him are perfect, 
though not yet completed ; the renewed spirit is per- 
fect in character; but while all this is true, the man 
himself is not perfect. Three things will be noticed : 
(i) what is wanting; (2) how completed; (3) when 
finished. 

I. What is wanting. Man is a complex being ; he 
is a spirit clothed with a carnal nature. The spirit 
may exist with or without its adjuncti — ts clothing. 
Such indeed will be the state of its being from death 
to the resurrection ; the two natures form when united 
one being; in this unit or being these parts act upon 
and modify each other. For the whole man the spirit 
is responsible. In the apostacy, the man was a unit ; 
— in his responsibility he is perpetually a unit, and 
when the work of his recovery is completed he will be 
a unit in perfection. But we have already noticed his 
duality in the recovering process — two egos in the con- 
valescent sinner, or in the Christian in his inward con- 
flict with sin. Now what is wanting or lacking in the 
perfection of the Christian is the sanctification of his 
carnal nature — its complete renovation and restoration 
to holiness. The spirit, as we have seen, is renewed 
in the image of its progenitor; but then commences the 
conflict, a conflict which can only end with the subjec- 
tion of one of the parties. The spirit's victory is cer- 
tain, but not yet attained; until that victory is attained 
the man him^self is imperfect ; over that im'perfection 
he sighs and groans, and with it he struggles and cries 
for deliverance. Sin has filled creation with groanings; 
— both the curse of sin and the contaminations of sin. 
The earth was cursed for man's sake ; for the sake of 
earth or earthly good man turned away from his God ; 



390 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

and earth and all that is earthy Is doomed to be a curse 
to man while here. For him there is no release from 
his earthly nature ; its carnal enmity against God is not 
cured in this life ; it is not subject to the law of God 
neither indeed can be. Kept under it may be. Paul 
kept his body under ; his body was his tabernacle in 
which he "groaned being burdened." 

II. How and when is this work to be completed ? I 
answer by a process adapted to the work to be per- 
formed. The spirit of man is reached and modified by 
moral appeal or spiritual influence. But the carnal, 
physical nature is reached by physical power; if 
changed, it will not be by moral suasion or spiritual 
influence, but by power absolute. Our animal nature 
therefore must be reached by a process sufficient, ade- 
quate to cure our physical or carnal nature in general. 
From the i9th-2 3rd verse inclusive there are difficul- 
ties in their explication, but there are several things in 
their relation to the physical and animal world quite 
obvious and of great importance in relation to our own 
physical and animal nature. 

1. The whole physical and animal world has felt 
the shock of sin, and has been subjected thereby to 
vanity — to the preludes and to death itself, in which 
it groans and travails in pain. 

2. That it, with the carnal nature of even the child- 
ren of God, will be relieved together; that creation 
itself shall be delivered into the glorious liberty of the 
children of God. 

3. That saints will attain //leiy perfection, f/iei'r eman- 
cipation in the resurrection or in the redemption of 
their bodies ; then and then only will the saints be 
completed when clothed upon with their house which 
is from heaven, — when they receive their bodies and 
are made like unto Christ's glorious body, in which bod- 
ies the carnal shall give place to the spiritual, v. 23 ; 
" and not only they, but ourselves also which have the 
first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within 
ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to-wit : the redemp- 



LECTUIJES ON ROMANS. 391 

tion of the body; " v. 29. " For whom he did foreknow, 
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image 
of his Son that he might be the first born among many 
brethren." Then will the process of adoption be com- 
pleted — "the adoption, to-wit: the redemption of our 
body." We have the spirit of adoption now, but it is 
not completed until we are dressed for heaven — 
" Beloved " says John, " now are we the sons of God, 
but it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but this we 
know, that when we see him we shall be like him, for 
we shall see him as he is ; " Among the Jews a child's 
adoption was complete, when his old garments gave 
place to new, and he was dressed from the wardrobe of 
the adopted father, and after the fashion of his house- 
hold. Such a completion of the saint is pledged in v. 
II — "But if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus 
from the dead dwell in you. He that raised up Christ 
from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies 
by His Spirit that dwelleth in you." The carnal world 
both in man, and out of man, is inimical to grace,— 
it is to be perpetually warred against by the renewed 
spirit until it drops it into the alernbic of the grave, 
thence to come forth renewed like unto Christ's glori- 
ous body, and in harmony with the renewed spirit, and 
purified from, every taint of sin. The very elements 
around us will be dissolved by fire, and a new world 
will be reconstructed from its elements; — "wherein 
dwelleth righteousness." Even so shall these vile 
bodies be dissolved in death to be reconstructed at the 
resurrection of the just. See i. Cor. xv. 42-44. So 
also is the resurrection of the dead, — " it is sown in cor- 
ruption, it is raised in incorruption ; it is sown in dis- 
honor, it is raised in glory ; it is sown in weakness, it is 
raised in power ; it is sown a natural body, it is raised 
a spiritual body." There is a natural and there is a 
spiritual body — "flesh and blood cannot inherit the 
kingdom of God," — the carnal must be put off, and 
the image of the heavenly put on before the children of 
God can enter heaven. Either by the alembic of death, 



892 NATHANIEL COLVEB. 

or by the mysterious change which awaits the living at 
the coming of Christ, our carnaLnature must be made 
spiritual, that in all points it may wear the image of the 
second Adam, the Lord from heaven, before the child- 
ren of God are perfect. Then shall be brought to 
pass the saying, " Death is swallowed up in victorj^ ; " 
and then, too, the triumphant song. But till then it is 
ours to hope, and with patience to wait, — till then, it is 
ours to watch, and pray, and fight. ~ 

" 'Tis vain to boast perfection here, 
Or till old nature dies. 
Happy is he who finds it where 
Creation shall our Freedom share 
In the new paradise." 

The results to which the 7 th and 8th of Romans 
have conducted us are : 

1. In regeneration the spirit is renewed into the 
image of God in righteousness and true holiness. It 
is made perfect in character. 

2. That the carnal nature is still in enmity against 
God, and will continue so until conquered and put off 
in death. 

3. That from the moment of regeneration till separ- 
ation in death there is a perpetual conflict between the 
renewed spirit and the unrenewed, carnal nature. 

4. That the new born spirit, though a child, is a 
perfect child, and through and by means of all its 
internal and external conflicts with sin, it is destined 
to come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of 
the Son of God unto a perfect man, " unto the 
measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." 

5. That the spirit is released from sin at death, and 
takes its place among the spirits of just men made 
perfect. But that the man in the completeness of his 
complex being is not perfected till the redemption 
and spiritualization of his body at the resurrection of 
the just. 

6. That we are saved by hope, /.^., in the hope of 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 393 

the completion of the work of grace, the beginning 
and process of which works we have and do experi- 
ence here. Perfection is desired and expected, and so 
hoped for and pressed after, but attained only at the 
resurrection, and in the redemption of the body. 



LECTURE XXVIII. 

Rom. VIII. 26-28.— r.^^ Guardianship of the Spirit. 

In the fearful conflict between the renewed spirit 
and carnal nature in the Christian the conquest of the 
spirit is secured by the efficient aid of the Spirit of 
God. 

I. The Spirit of God becomes an indweller in 
the saints; not a transient visitor, but an indweller. 
" Except the Spirit of Christ be in you, ye are none of 
his." "By his Spirit that dwelleth in you." 2 Cor. vi. 
16. "I will dwell in them and walk in them." Acts 
ii. 4. "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, 
and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit 
gave them utterance." Now it is obvious from these 
and multitudes of kindred passages, that the Spirit of 
God habitually dwells in the children of God. 

1. To help their infirmities, /. ^,,to help us against 
our infirmities. The renewed spirit as we have seen 
is weak and infirm ; it is the province of the Spirit to 
give it strength ; to work with it, and so to " witness 
with it that we are born of God." Ephes. iii. 16. 
" That he would grant you according to the riches of 
his glory to be strengthened with might by His Spirit 
in the inward man." It both strengthens the spirit of 
the man, and is strength for the spirit of man. Ephes. 
ii. 22. "Habitation of God through the Spirit." 

2. It shows them the things of Christ. By its sug- 
gestions in holy men of old the Bible was made, i 
Peter i. 2. " Searching what, or what manner of time 
the spirit of Christ that was in them did signify, when 



394 NATHANIEL COLVEK. 

it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the 
glory that should follow." It guided holy men of old 
to write as they were inspired. To its inward prompt- 
ings are we indebted for the entire revelation of God, 
but keep in mind that while the same Spirit is the 
indwelling monitor of the saints, its work is restricted 
to their present necessity. It is not its prerogative 
now to reveal any new truth, else would our Bible be 
enlarged, and new scriptures would multiply upon our 
hands, but said Jesus : " He shall take of the things 
of mine, and shew them unto you ; he shall bring all 
things to your remembrance^ whatsoever I have said 
unto you.' The Bible is the Spirit's text-book in the 
hearts of believers. The Spirit magnifies the word. 
Let it be known that any spirit that sets up on its own 
account, or claims to make new revelations, is a false 
spirit. But he that gave the word enlarges the heart 
and quickens the mind to understand the word he 
gave. It is the Spirit's prerogative to stir the emotions 
of our spirits into harmony with the word. It is his 
to move the purposings of our spirits in harmony with 
his word, and to give strength and courage to fulfil his 
word. It is thus God " works in us both to will and 
to do according to his goo.d pleasure. " So says Paul : 
" His Spirit wrought in me mightily. " 

3. It is the Spirit's prerogative to comfort the people 
of God. He is the great Comforter sent of Christ to 
take His place as their conductor and comforter. He 
says: " If ye love me, ye would rejoice because I said, 
I go away, for if I go not away the Comforter will not 
come." Christ having given the suggestions of his 
words, they would now more need the inward sugges- 
tions of the Spirit to bring his counsels, his promises 
and assurances to mind, and to move by his own 
influence upon our spirit to take hold of those pro- 
mises, and to take hold of the living Christ as his 
word presents him, and so to impart its own joy to the 
soul. 

4. It is the prerogative of the Spirit to inspire and 



LECTURES ON ROIVIANS. 395 

direct prayer. See verse 26. " For we know not 
what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit maketh 
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be 
uttered." It begets desires in us unutterable by us, 
and presents those unuttered desires for us at the 
Mercy Seat. He, knowing the mind of God, conforms 
those desires within us, and the utterance of those 
desires to the will of God ; and that is not all, he 
clothes those desires and utterances at the Mercy Seat 
with his own sanction, and thus renders their preva- 
lence certain. Notice in the 28th verse the extent of 
this superintending care over this matter of effectual 
petition. It covers all the interests of all the elect of 
God ; and we know that " all things work together for 
good to them that love God;" /. ^.,the superintending 
care of the Spirit is confirmed by the fact that all 
things work together for that end — the good of the 
saint. His intercessions include not only the things 
that please now, but even those things that grieve now, 
but work their good in the end. As the loving mother 
asks medicine of her physician which will give pain to 
her child now, but health in the end, even so he asks 
for the cup his children need to drink, and also for the 
result of that cup that it may work for their good. O 
how sweet the reflection that Christ not only reigns for 
his people and over his people, but that he reigns in 
his people. It is thus he permits his people to share 
with him the conflict ; and it is thus he prepares them 
to share with him the glory of the victory. 

But it is not enough that we have thus traced with 
the Apostle the work of redeeming grace with its 
infinite expenditures in the death and sufferings of 
Christ ; with the exertion of omnipotent power in 
recovering lost souls from death to life and from con- 
demnation to justification, by their mysterious relations 
to Christ by faith as their new and vital organic Head 
— their covenant Head and their marital Head, and 
to the Spirit's inward energy and guardianship. Before 
we can write with the Apostle in his triumphant chal- 



896 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

lenge before the universe — before both worlds — we 
have another and profound and mighty matter to con- 
sider, viz : the cause of all this — the great cause from 
which all this proceeding springs. Results so infin- 
itely glorious must have an adequate cause ; and that 
cause is traced by the Apostle to the eternal purpose 
of God — to that great fountain of life let us follow 
him, that with him we may drink of his inspiration, 
and with him put the crown where it belongs, and 
where all the holy hail, and worship it on the head of 
the God-Christ. 



LECTURE XXIX. 
Rom. VIII. 28-30. 

Were we destined to pass through some vast, track- 
less wilderness ; some wilderness of mountain and val- 
ley, of broken rocks and desert waste ; some land of 
protracted storm and cloud with nothing to guide us 
but a chart and compass, with what abandonment of 
imagination and of the suggestions of instinct would 
wisdom dictate that we should cleave to our chart and 
our compass ; Upon them prudence would dictate that 
our trust should be absolute, and our attention severe. 
Even so when we attempt to explore the ways of God 
with men, the Bible is and must be our chart, and sound 
logic as our compass. We are tempted by the impos- 
ing difficulties of the way to ignore the field of inves- 
tigation as too severe and hazardous for our undertaking. 
Thousands do so, substituting for teachable research 
reckless presumption, and affected wisdom in choice of 
ignorance, neither of which can we afford. We need 
to know God that we may adore and love him for what 
he is. And we need to apprehend and to understand 
his ways that we may know him. To know God is 
eternal life, and savingly to know God is to discern and 
grasp with our affections his perfections as they are. 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 397 

His ways understood set God before us, and that too 
in exact proportion to our understanding of his ways. 
We need to know the ways of God that we may know 
our own ways. None can indeed correctly understand 
the operations of saving grace as it encounters the 
various phases of human nature, nor the relation of 
those operations to man's responsibility, or their rela- 
tions to the safety and comfort of the redeemed, nor 
their relation to our agency or working together with 
him, without a competent understanding of the ways of 
God with man. As we shall decide whether God in 
his works of grace is contingent upon forces exterior to 
himself or upon his own changeless purpose, so we 
shall shape our whole system of Theoretic Religion, 
and conform our ideas to one or the other of these 
views of the ways of God with man. It is therefore 
with modest trembling, but with confidence emboldened 
by the proffered aid of the Spirit, and under the pres- 
sure of our relative necessity, and of the pressure of 
the command of the Master to dig for the truth as for 
hid treasure, we enter on the examination of this great 
matter-;- this crowning statement of the Apostle: — 
"The called according to his purpose." 

Limiting somewhat the range of our inquiries to the 
purpose of God concerning the redemption of his peo- 
ple, we proceed to discuss the following consecutive 
propositions : — 

I. God's purpose concerning the salvation of his 
people is antecedent to the creation of the world — is 
indeed eternal. 

II. God's purpose was in himself; /. ^., it was induced 
by no motive exterior to himself. 

III. It was definite and personal. 

IV. It was comprehensive and amule, covering all 
his saving work. 

V. It was efficient and certain, — it can never fail. 

VI. It was beneficent and just. 



398 NATHANIEL COLVER. 



Proposition I. 



First, then, let us notice the antecedent and eternal 
character of God's purpose to save. In verse 28 the 
Apostle not only ante-dates the purpose, but makes it 
the foundation of all the work of grace — "the called 
according to his purpose." So also in Ephes. iii. 11, 
he speaks of it as the eternal purpose which he pur- 
posed in Christ Jesus. "According to the eternal pur- 
pose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." So 
also Ephes. i. 4 ; " According as he hath chosen us in 
him before the foundation of the world." In these 
passages it is clearly and implicitly stated that this 
saving purpose was eternal and anterior to creation ; 
yea, that before creation he himself acted upon that 
purpose in the choice of the objects of the purpose. 
Of the anterior and eternal character of God's purpose 
concerning the salvation of his people it would seem 
difficult for any one to doubt who receive, these script- 
ures as the testimony of God. But this character of 
the Divine purpose is confirmed by the nature of God 
himself. Eternity is present with God,— every moment. 
The purpose then of every moment is the purpose of 
eternity, and is an eternal purpose. All the purposes 
of God are eternal, both in their cause, and in their 
changeless force ; hence, his purpose concerning the 
salvation of his people is eternal in both these respects. 
To regard it otherwise is to disregard the changeless 
laws of the Divine Nature. 

Proposition II. 

The purpose of God was in himself and superin- 
duced by nothing exterior to himself. 

If his purpose is eternal it must be in himself. 
Eternity ante-dates universal creation, and of course 
eternal purpose ante-dates all things which must have 
proceeded from purpose. If then the cause of all 
things exterior to God is in the purpose of God, the 
purpose of God must be in God alone. It cannot be 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 399 

contingent on that which is not. God's purpose is in 
himself as to its motive ; and also in himself in the 
surety of its execution. From nothing it can borrow 
nothing. That which is developed in the fulness of 
time, results from purposes eternal. Ephes. i. 9. 
"Having made known to us the mystery of his will 
according to his good pleasure, which he hath pur- 
posed in himself." Two things are obvious in this 
passage: ist, This will was after his own good pleas- 
ure, and modified by nothing exterior to himself; and 
2nd, purposed in himself alone, as says Isa. xli. 14. 
" With whom took he counsel, and who instructed 
him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and 
taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of 
understanding.''" 

The question whether the purpose of God covers 
the action of the wicked seems to demand our notice 
in connection with the subject now under considera- 
tion. But as this subject will come up for considera- 
tion further on in the Epistle, we pass it here, and 
confine our attention to his purpose concerning his 
own work in the salvation of his people, and things 
immediately concerned with his work, and also con- 
cerning his own elect. The work of redemption is 
God's great work ; creation cost him but the word of 
his power; redemption, incarnation and death, — the 
equipage and marshalling of his created host. The 
undertaking of such a work with no definite purpose 
of what himself would do, or of what should be the 
results of what he did; I say, to undertake such a 
work, in either, undefined in his purpose, is an absurd- 
ity too great to be indulged for a moment. Such a 
course in a man would destroy all confidence in* his 
wisdom. Christ was a Lamb slain from the foundation 
of the world; /. e.,m the purpose of God. When the 
time for the fulfilment of that purpose came, he was 
delivered according to the deten?imate counsel and 
foreknowledge of God. Neither the Father nor the 
Son was taken by surprise. O what a beautiful testi- 



400 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

mony is that from the lips of the Son of God himself 
as the august scene of his sufferings drew near — 
"Father, save me from this hour." "But for this 
cause came I unto this hour." "Father, glorify thy 
name." And again: "Father, the hour is come, 
glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee." The 
hour fixed in the counsel of the Father and the Son — 
the ante-mundane purpose was about to be fulfilled ; 
not only the behest of the eternal Spirit, but the eter- 
nal behest of the eternal Spirit was obeyed in his 
death. See Heb. ix. "Who through the eternal 
Spirit offered himself without spot to God." Not a 
pain, not an insult did he endure but what the hand of 
God and the counsel of God determined before to be 
done, nor were the results left uncertain ; he claims a 
specific reward at the hand of the Father. As in the 
17th of John, he hails the approaching hour, he adds: 
"As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he 
should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given 
him. I have glorified thee on the earth ; I have 
finished the work which thou gavest me to do, and now, 
O Father, glorify me with the glory which I had with 
thee before the world was." Aye, before the world 
was, the whole thing was planned, purposed, and cov- 
enant promises, definite and sure, predicated upon it. 
The reward was as much decreed as the sacrifice ; it 
was not left contingent upon the hopeful curability, 
but pledged upon the veracity of God, that he should 
see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied. The 
motive, the reward, and the result are according to the 
purpose of him who worketh all things after the 
counsel of his own will. 

Prop. III. — It was Definite and. Personal. 

I. He foreknew them. He could only foreknow 
them, if his purpose was personal and definite. The 
foreknowledge of them, upon which was predicated 
predestination, to be conformed to the image of his 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 401 

Son, and calling, etc., was not the foreknowledge of 
anything in them inhering, which distinguished them 
from the rest of mankind, but as the purposed object 
of that gracious, undeserved, unmerited and unsought 
favor. In such definitely purposed election alone 
could he know them. This foreknowledge of them 
could have no other basis than his own definite pur- 
pose to save. 

2. The motive — reward — was set before Christ in 
the covenant of Redemption. See Heb. 12. 2. "Who 
for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, 
etc." Now in order to set that joy before him, the pur- 
pose to save must be personal and definite. Ephes. i. 
17. "The eyes of your understanding being enlight- 
ened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, 
and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in 
the saints." Paul in this passage would have them 
apprehend two things ; the one is the hope belonging 
to them from his calling them to be saints, and the 
other is — the riches of the glory of Christ's inherit- 
ance in the saints. The glory of that inheritance he 
was willing, nay, to use his own language, he sought to 
tread the path of his sufferings to attain. The sum of 
his redemption glory will be the retinue of his saints. 
Would the number of that retinue be left to any con- 
tingency short of the changeless purpose of God .'' In 
the mutual inauguration of that work can it be con- 
ceived that neither the Father nor the Son should have 
any definite purpose concerning that number? Did 
they forget it ? Could it be a matter of indifference to 
either of them ? Was there any other party to be con- 
sulted whose rights might be endangered by a definite 
stipulation? Were the merits of Christ's death yet 
unmeasured or doubtful? If in justice the whole race 
were doomed, and if the atoning merits of Christ's 
death were infinite, might not God extend the power of 
recovering grace as far as he pleased, and limit the 
recovering power of his Spirit when he pleased without 
infringing the rights of any ? I repeat the inquiry — 



402 NATHANIEL COLYEK. 

in an undertaking of such infinite outlay — such unpar- 
alleled expenditure why should not the stipulated 
reward be definite, and why should not the purpose of 
Him " who worketh all things after the counsel of his 
own will," fix that reward? Why should that reward 
be left to uncertainties ? O ! could the Father fail of 
purposing a definite reward to his Son ? 

3. In the bestowment of the boon of eternal life the 
Son of God acts upon his definitely chartered rights. 
I cannot state the argument better than in his own 
words. In his valedictory prayer — John xvii — he 
said to his Father in the presence of his disciples that 
they might know and understand the mutual harmony 
between him and his Father in the great work of 
Redemption — "Father, the hour is come, glorify thy 
Son, that thy Son may glorify thee, as thou hast 
given him power over all flesh that he should give eter- 
nal life to (whom ?) as many as thou hast given him. 
And this is life eternal that they might know thee, the 
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whoni thou hast sent. 
I have glorified thee upon the earth; I have finished 
the work which thou gavest 7ne to do, and now, O Father, 
glorify thou me with the glory which I had with thee 
before the world was. I have manifested thy name 
unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. 
Thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they 
have kept thy word. I pray for them ; I pray not for 
the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for 
they are thine, and all mine are thine, and I am glori- 
fied in them." What can be clearer than this ? God's 
elect ones are given to him, and are his elect ones. 
God's elect ones are his saved ones. In them he is 
glorified. They are given to him in the mass of the 
world's quarry ; by him they are quarried out, chiseled, 
squared and beautified for a place in the great temple 
above, each stone of which has a place in that temple, 
and shall fill that place, and each stone of which from 
the foundation to the cap-stone shall be brought forth 
with shouting — "crying Grace, Grace unto it." 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 403 



Proposition IV. 

The logical order of the work of redemption from 
sin to holiness, and from death to life as wrought of 
God ia the salvation of his people is built upon the 
personal and definite purpose of God covering with 
minute provision the whole work. Let us notice this 
wonderful progression of this saving work as here set 
forth in this logical chain of Divine operation. 

1. God foreknew them according to his purpose. 
This distinction of foreknowledge based upon purpose, 
and not purpose upon foreknowledge, has been already 
noticed, but will appear still clearer when we notice, 
secondly : 

2. " Moreover, whom he did foreknow, them he did 
predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son." 
He knew them as his elect, or in his purpose to save, 
but knew them as being the image of the earthy — of 
the apostacy, and he predestinated them to the chang- 
ing process of his grace into the image of his Son that 
he might be the first-born among many brethren. If 
they were to be of his family it was meet that they 
should be made like his family, and to that fitness God 
predestinated his chosen — his known — his purposed 
ones. 

3. " Moreover, whom he did predestinate thein he also 
called;" but see, the basis still is purpose, (verse 28,) 
" to them who are the called according to his purpose. " 
Having predestinated the definite work of the Spirit, 
and the persons to be v/rought upon, the Spirit goes 
about his work, subdues them to his reign, calls them 
into the kingdom with a calling denominated — the 
high callijig of God. This is what Bunyan denomi- 
nates the special call. It is indeed the effectual calling 
of the Spirit. You will notice this word called^ in Rom. 
i. I, covers the entire process of taking Paul from his 
former state and occupation, and putting him into the 
state and occupation of an Apostle. This change of 
position and calling he ever ascribes to the will of 



404 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

God, — see his address in all the epistles to the 
churches. He was a chosen vessel, personally qualified 
in his conversion, and put into his work and commis- 
sion by the grace of God ; and all this according to 
the will or antecedent purpose of God. Mark the 
word — "predestinate"; it was to be conformed to the 
image of his Son — /'. ^.,tobe converted, to be changed, 
to be personally qualified to follow Christ, and it was 
in pursuance of this " predestination " that they were 
thus called. They were changed, adapted to his ser- 
vice, and put into his service as they were predesti- 
nated to be changed, adapted and put into their 
heavenly calling. The purpose of God is the basis of 
his own action in the predestination and its accom- 
plishment, in the transformation of the "character into 
the image of his Son, a transformation which covers 
the beginning of the work in their regeneration, and 
its completion in their sanctification. 

4. " And whom he called them he also justified. " The 
state into which they are called, the relation to Christ 
as their organic and covenant Head in their new call- 
ing, and to Christ as their vital Head, into which 
regeneration has embodied them, gives them a present 
justification. The justification of the people of God 
is spoken of in the Scriptures as a matter already 
accomplished, so also is the sanctification. See i Cor. 
vi. II. "But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but 
ye are justified, in the name of our Lord Jesus, and 
by the Spirit of our God." In the Headship rights of 
Christ, and the pledged efficiency of the Spirit, in the 
completion of the work which he has begun their final 
justification is anticipated. Their justification in Christ 
is secured and their final and personal justification at 
the day of judgment made certain. They are by their 
standing in Christ forever relieved from the condemn- 
ing power of the law, and its approval secured by the 
imputation and impartation of the righteousness of 
Christ as their organic Head, and their destined 
absorption in his righteousness. And all this as the 



LECTURES ON EOMANS. 405 

legitimate result of their calling. So then, if they 
were the called according to the purpose of God, they 
were justified according to his purpose, and both their 
calling and their justification are to be ascribed to 
that gracious and eternal purpose of God. 

Proposition V. 

"And whom he justified them he also glorified. 
The God of our Fathers \i2X\v glorified his Son Jesus." 
Acts iii. The prayer of Christ (John xvii) was 
" Glorify thy Son that thy Son may glorify thee." And 
again : " Ought not Christ to suffer these things and 
to enter into his glory y See Luke xxiv. 23. Again, 
John xvii : " Father, I will that they, whom thou hast 
given me, be with me where I am, that they may 
behold the glory that I had with thee before the world 
was." Christ has and has already attained a media- 
torial glory. He inherits and has attained that glory 
as the head of his spiritual race. He descended to 
and united himself with them in their fallen condition 
that he might return with them to that primeval state 
of glory to which man was destined at his creation ; 
" for it became him, for whom are all things and by 
whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory to 
make the Captain of their salvation perfect through 
suffering. For both he that sanctifieth and they who 
are sanctified are all one, for which cause he is not 
ashamed to call them brethren." Heb. ii. 10, 11. The 
identity of the people of God with Christ is vital and 
perpetual, as specified in his covenant rights, they are 
his joint heirs to the heavenly or restored state, and 
as the organic and vitalized members of his body they 
are inseparable from the glorious state of the Head. 
The identity of God's people with Christ is for the 
conflicts of time and for the glories of eternity. This 
is beautifully set forth in the i6th, 17 th and i8th 
verses of this chapter. The Spirit itself beareth wit- 
ness with our spirit that we are the children of God. 



406 JSTATHANIEIi COLVEK. 

And if children then heirs, heirs of God, and joint 
heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with him, 
that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon 
that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy 
to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed 
in us " Again, 2 Tim. ii. 9 : " For if we suffer with 
him, we shall also reign with him." This also is 
spoken of as a thing of the past : " Them he also 
glorifiedT God also treats them now as the heirs of 
that glory, but has also now given them in Christ their 
Head, their federal and personal title to that glory. 
They are indeed now the possessors of that glorious 
state and condition, to which they are destined in their 
exalted and inheriting Head. They possess it now in 
their inheriting Head, and in the hand of their Fore- 
runner, who has already attained in their behalf. The 
same eternal purpose that put Christ in his glorious 
and exalted position pledges the eternal God to put 
his spiritual generation there with him. The same 
purpose that puts him as head over all things to 
his church into that glorious state, put also the 
church, which is his body, into that ^ory with him. 
^^ Them he also glorified." This is beautifully set forth 
in Ephes. i. 4-10. "According as he hath chosen us 
in him before the foundation of the world, that we 
should be holy and without blame before him in love ; 
having predestinated us unto the adoption of children 
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good 
pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his 
grace, wherein he hath made as accepted in the 
beloved; in whom we have redemption through his 
blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches 
of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in 
all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us 
the mystery of his will, according to his pleasure, 
which he purposed in himself that in the dispensation 
of- the fullness of times he might gather together in 
one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and 
are in earth, even in him; in whom also we have 



LECTURES ON EOMANS. 407 

obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according 
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the 
counsel of his own will," etc. Nor can I forbear 
quoting the conclusion of the glorification of the church 
with Christ tlueir Head. Verse i8: "The eyes of 
your understanding being enlightened, that ye may 
know what is the hope of his calling, and what the 
riches of the glor^^ of his inheritance in the saints, and 
what is the exceeding greatness of his power to 
US-ward who believe, according to the workings of his 
mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he 
raised him from the dead and set him at his own right 
hand in heavenly places, far above all principality and 
power and might and dominion and every name that 
is named, not only in this world, but also in that which 
is to come, and hath put all things under his feet, and 
gave him to be head over all things to the church 
which is his body, the fullness of him, that filleth all 
in all." 

From the purpose of God through every stage of 
operation to their glorification in heaven, there is no 
break or possibility of failure. From the beginning to 
the end it is God's work, God's predetermined Avork, 
God's covenant work, secured in its accomplishment 
by the pledged energies of the eternal God-head. 

Prop. VI. — // was Beneficent and Just, 

From the 31st verse to the close of the chapter the 
Apostle shows that this salvation which he has so 
largely discussed is benignant and worthy of all trust 
and praise, because it is so richly and so effectually pro- 
vided for in the efficient and eternal love of God. His 
argument is : 

I. God is for us — the subjects of his grace, his elect. 
Hence his challenge, "who then can be against us?" 
/. ^., to our injury or defeat. If our glorification be 
prevented, God must be overmatched. If God 
triumphs, their triumph is sure. 



408 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

2. The love of God in Its vast expenditures insures 
the completion of the work. His love induced him to 
give his only begotten Son to die for us. Having made 
that infinite sacrifice, will He suffer the work to fail, 
when its completion will cost but the word of his power ? 
The past expenditures of his love are a guarantee of its 
continued and future efficiency, and of the perfection 
of his work in the salvation of all his people, (verse 
32). " He that spared not his own Son, but freely gave 
him up for us, how shall he not with him freely give us 
all things.'*" 

3. Their justification is from the arbiter of the Uni- 
verse. The source of all law ; the conservator of all 
interests ; and the arbiter of all fates has decided their 
case : to whom shall an appeal be taken against this 
decision.'* By whom shall his judgment be stayed.** 
Or, by whom shall his hand be arrested in its execu- 
tion.'* "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's 
elect ? It is God that justifieth, who is he that con- 
demneth ? 

4. The loving and persevering interest of the dying, 
rising, and interceding Christ, insures our trust, and 
demands our praise. " It is Christ that died, nay, 
rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand 
of God, who maketh intercession for us." He died for 
us — the elect. He arose for them. He is even at 
God's right hand for them. He maketh intercessions 
for them. They are his joy — the motive set before 
him for which he died. They are the riches of his 
inheritance, — his jewels. They are his purchased 
bride. They are the members of his body, and the 
fullness of his glory. The ground of his pleading is 
valid. On his part, all the conditions have been ful- 
filled. His pleadings are endorsed by the justice of 
the Throne. Surely their interests are safe in his hands, 
and victory is secure. 

5. His sublime grasp of the palm of victory is in 
view of the sustaining presence and the omnipotent 
energy of Gbd's love in Christ Jesus. (See v. 35-39) 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 409 

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" 
It embraces us ; it holds us in its present grasp ; the 
loving chords of the Saviour's heart are about us ; who 
shall unclasp or sunder them ? That they are about 
us, the infinite sacrifice, and the decretive workings of 
his Spirit and grace in the systematic plan from the 
Divine purpose to their glorification, abundantly attests. 
Well may we enquire — who shall unclasp those ever- 
lasting arms that are about us? or, what shall cause us 
to despond or faint ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or 
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 
As is written — " For thy sake we are killed all the day 
long We are counted as sheep for the slaughter; nay, 
in all these things we are more than conquerors through 
him that loved us." In this is his final and triumph- 
ant challenge, — his conviction of triumph, viz: — that 
the bond of love that holds us, has its strength, its 
energy of grasp, not in the inherent strength of our 
love to God, but in the inhering energy and strength of 
God's love to us. He — the Apostle — sees in it an 
energy omnipotent and resistless — a strength that noth- 
ing in time or eternity can sever. I close this argu- 
ment in his own inimitabl}^ beautiful and sublime words 
— -^ For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor 
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things pres- 
ent, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any 
other creature, shall be able to separate us from the 
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord." 



LECTURE XXX. 

Rom. IX. 14, 15. 

" What shall we say then, is there unrighteousness 
with God ? God forbid, for he saith to Moses, I will 
have mercy on whom I will have mercv, and I will 
have compassion on whom I will have compassion." 
Verse 18. "Therefore hath he mercy on whom he 
will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth." 



410 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

^r^.— Salvation is a sovereign gratuity. The 
counsels of his own will are strictly accomplished in 
God's entire work of redemption. 

I. God's sovereignty grasps, controls and wields 
universal being and matter. As creator, he is the 
rightful proprietor of all. " The maker is the owner " 
is a moral fact of universal recognition. The title to 
all is in God — a title there is none to dispute. This 
is the doctrine vindicated by Christ, when he said, 
" Have I not a right to do what I will with mine own.^ " 
God's proprietorship is absolute. " Hath no tthe potter 
power over the clay, of the same lump to make one 
vessel to honor and another to dishonor.'*" 

II. The rights of all moral intelligences are derived, 
ever subject to and limited by the rights of God. 
The moment that man or angel attempt to carry them 
against his rights, or counter to his will, they cease. 
It is not possible in the nature of things for God him- 
self to originate a right, to contravene his own will. 
Such an attempt on the part of God would be God 
versus God, and his will at war with himself. There- 
fore as the rights of God so the will of God holds at 
its sovereign disposal all creatures and all things. 
That which is derived can never rise above its source. 
The will of God can extend no right to counteract 
itself. Hence, too, his sovereign rights are absolute 
and universal. 

III. Derived rights pertaining to all intelligent beings 
and unforfeited by transgression are sacred. Of them 
God is the legitimate and sole guardian. To put the 
keeping of their rights into the hands of their posses- 
sors would betray the weak and endanger the peace 
of all. God both asserts the passivity of their 
possessors and his own sole prerogative of protecting 
the rights of all. He himself is the conservator of the 
rights and the peace of the universe. 

IV. It follows if God is responsible to all for the 
preservation of their rights, then he is responsible for 
all to all. If an atom or an angel is let loose from 



LECTUEES ON K0:MANS. 411 

the rights of his control, then the rights of all are 
thereby put in jeopardy. If God be responsible for 
all, then all must be subject to his control, to the 
decisions of his will. Just law is itself incompetent 
security ; governmental integrity in the punishment 
of the transgressor fails to indemnify the holy. The 
punishment of the murderer does not restore life. 
The moral government of God is inefficient to univer- 
sal protection. Against that angels and men have 
revolted. By it they are not restrained from mischief. 
If there be nothing but law to restrain them, neither 
men nor angels retaining their allegiance have any 
security against their depredations. If God be res- 
ponsible to the righteous for them — the wicked — he 
must hold them as he does the stars in the grasp of 
his power. To the control of his power, both iJmigs 
and sentient beings are simply objective. Under it 
their subjective functions are not in requisition. He 
neither asks their consent nor holds them under moral 
responsibility to obey. Omnipotence makes obedience 
certain. Under this forced government reliance is not 
had upon moral motive ; neither does it interfere with 
moral responsibility. The application of this govern- 
ment to morally responsible agents may be difficult to 
apprehend, nor do I stop now to discuss. I but assert 
and prove the fact. Only let it be remembered, if it 
be a fact, God can see a harmony with his moral gov- 
ernment, and its responsibilities, whether we see it or 
not. But it is self-evidfent if God be responsible to 
all for all, such a grasp, such a control, yea, such a 
government is indispensable. The atom and the angel 
are alike objective to his care, his purpose and his 
power. To neither can he be indifferent. The activ- 
ities of his purpose, and his power encircle them with 
a design to an end. 

V. God's purpose to save had its origin in his own 
sovereign counsel. He said to Moses, " I will have 
mercy on whom I will have mercy." The "I will" 
is the starting point. Notice : 



412 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

I. The derived rights of man are forfeited. The 
claims of all were alike forfeited. The voice of jus- 
tice alike demanded the condemnation of all. God's 
just and holy law condemned all, and called for the 
execution of its penalty upon all. Sovereignty has 
the field. As the word of his power could destroy 
this world, and that in justice, and with universal 
approbation, so the same word of his power could 
make and people a new world of holy subjects of his 
throne. No sinister necessity moved him. Neither 
was it the result of foreign counsel. " Who hath been 
his counsellor, and who instructed him and taught 
him in knowledge.'^" Isa. xl. 14. The purpose of 
redemption took the universe by surprise. The mys- 
teries of redeeming love are yet puzzling angels. The 
purpose, as saith Paul, was in himself. " The purpose 
in himself." The purpose of mercy came from the 
depths of his own sovereign pleasure. The purpose 
therefore was a sovereign gratuity. 

VI. The date and basis of election proves salvation 
a sovereign gratuity, v. 11. " For the children being 
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, 
that the purpose of God according to election might 
stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, it was 
said unto her — "The elder shall serve the younger." 
Two things are obvious in this passage : 

I. The election was antecedent to, and not predi- 
cated upon the good works of the chosen, or the sur- 
passing badness of the rejected. In electing Jacob, 
and rejecting Esau, God's decision must have been in 
himself. The pre-exercise of his own choice of one to 
blessing, and of the other to cursing is seen when you 
notice the condition of the parties : they stand upon a 
level, and that a level of guilt, and just condemnation. 
Neither had any claim to favor; whatever, therefore, 
was bestowed upon either, falling short of distinction 
must have been a sovereign gratuity. On the chosen 
God confers an unmerited favor; on the rejected he 
only bestows what he deserves, and what justice and 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 413 

equity approve. Under these circumstances to impeach 
sovereignty is unreasonable and a disloyal insult; 
because in one case, God, for motives in himself and 
to us unknown confers upon one free and unmerited 
favor, to demand that he is bound therefore either in 
equity or in justice to confer the same upon the other 
is, to say the least, unreasonable and officious. Neither 
does the charge of partiality hold good. Partiality sup- 
poses a preference predicated upon some disparity in 
the parties from which this election is made. No such 
preference could exist in this case. Any disparity in 
the parties which could furnish a motive to the choice 
is derived, for the parties were not yet born, neither 
had they done good or evil. True, indeed, the poste- 
rior date of their wickedness does not alter the case, 
as it was all foreseen when the choice was made, but 
it is mentioned here in order to disclaim any disparity 
of character as the basis of the election, and also to 
assert that the election had its motive in God. Its 
ends were known to himself alone, — ends concern- 
ing which it is not our province to enquire. This 
being so the charge of partiality falls to the ground. 
This seems to have been the precise point of Divine 
Sovereignty which Christ had in view and which he 
intended to endorse and approve in his memorable 
prayer of thanksgiving in view of the triumphs of grace 
reported by his disciples — "I thank thee, O Father, 
Lord of Heaven and Earth, that thou hast hidden 
these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed 
them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemeth 
good in thy sight." Beyond the sovereign pleasure of 
God in the discriminations of his saving grace, he 
would not go. To that sovereignty he ascribed the 
elective distinctions, thus endorsing and sustaining the 
right of its sovereign exercise, and the equity of his 
discriminations. The rights of sovereignty on the part 
of God are endorsed, but it is that sovereignty which 
is in harmony with moral law. Clouds and thick dark- 
ness are often round about him, but justice and judg- 



414 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 

ment are the habitation of his throne. Under God's 
sovereignty all the rights of all his subjects are sacred, 
and all legitimate claims to vengeance are sacred in 
his integrity. The only case in the history of the Uni- 
verse where execution to the letter has failed is in the 
case of apostate man, nor does he allow, even in that 
case, transgression and vengeance to be separated. 
But since the claim of that violated law for vengeance 
has been magnified by the substitutional sufferings of 
Christ, mercy is possible, but yet for mercy the apos- 
tate has no claims ; on whom that mercy shall be 
bestowed, or from whom withheld is a matter over 
which Divine Sovereignty is absolute, and neither res- 
trained nor modified by any rights on the part of the 
transgressors. Of any disposal he is pleased to make 
of them, if it does not transcend the legitimate penalty 
for their crimes, they will have no reason to complain. 
Nor can any being in the Universe have reason to 
complain for them. Beyond this, God has been pleased 
to proclaim pardon and salvation free to all who repent 
and believe on his Son. This offer so gracious, so free, 
by the spirit of apostacy has been the subject of uni- 
versal scorning and rejecting. To this rejection there 
are no exceptions. All in his sight are on the same 
level, are under this second or double condemnation. 
Viewed at that standpoint, surely Divine Sovereignty 
is vindicated in doing that which is clearly expressed 
in verse i8. "Therefore hath he mercy on whom he 
will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth." On 
all upon whom mercy falls, therefore, it is a sovereign 
gratuity. 

VII. That salvation is a sovereign gratuity will 
further appear if we notice the .recorded instances of 
divine interposition in favor or for the benefit of man. 
There have ever been interpositions within the limita- 
tions of justice, never inflicting arbitrary harm, but 
conferring unmerited favor; take for instance the elec- 
tion, emancipation and preservation of the Jewish 
nation as the medium of revelation and the introduc- 



LECTUEES ON ROMANS. 415 

tion of Christ to the world. In doing this sover- 
eignty had an end of its own in view, with which as a 
nation, a people, they had no sympathy. But in using 
them to reach that end he did them no harm, but 
great good. " What advantage, then, had the Jew, or 
what profit is there of circumcision? Much every 
way. Chiefly that unto them were committed the 
oracles of God ; who were Israelites, to whom per- 
taineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, 
and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and 
the promises ; whose were the fathers, and of whom, 
as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, 
(or God over all,) blessed forever. Amen." Whether 
abused or improved, these were exalted privileges. 
To these privileges they were elected, or chosen from 
all the families of the earth. They did not elect 
themselves ; they turned away from God, and sought 
the life of Moses. There was scarcely a period from 
their release from Egyptian bondage, when but for the 
restraining power of God they would not have relapsed 
into idolatry and heathenism. Neither were they bet- 
ter than other nations of the earth, but worse. They 
had received the law by the disposition of angels, 
and had not kept it. Their election, therefore, to 
their exalted privileges was sovereign and gratuitously 
kind God elected them with reference to no virtue 
or right in themselves, but as instruments to an end 
— a benignant and glorious end; and with no injustice, 
but much gratuitous kindness, he used them to that 
end. It was all sovereign, and graciously within the 
bounds of justice. Again, the same characteristics of 
sovereignty are seen in his electing to righteousness 
and salvation from among the Jews. In all their 
idolatrous apostasies from God, he left not himself 
without witnesses. So in the great apostasy under 
Ahab and Jezebel, when Elijah supposed the defection 
was universal, " yet have I left to myself 7000 in Israel 
that have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which 
hath not kissed him." In his sovereign electing love 



416 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

God elected and preserved a remnant as a nucleus 
around which Israel was again rallied and saved from 
utter destruction. They deserved destruction, but the 
exercise of sovereignty within the bounds of justice 
spared them. And so also his election to everlasting 
salvation from their number was alike a sovereign 
gratuity, illustrated by this civil election. This is 
most clearly and beautifully stated by the Apostle in 
Rom. xi. 1-8 inclusive; referring to this preservative 
election, he says in verse 5 : " Even so at this present 
time also there is a remnant according to the election 
of grace, and if it be of grace, then it is no more of 
works;" and verse 7, "What then .5* Israel hath not 
obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election 
hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded." Their 
exalted privileges were incompetent to save. 

VIII. The relations of apostasy to Divine Sover- 
eignty are such as to vindicate the arbitrament of God 
concerning the non-elect. Having shown that salva- 
tion is a sovereign gratuity, we have arrived at a 
standpoint where we can understandingly survey the 
operations of his sovereignty concerning the lost, or 
non-elect. Let me call attention to three distinct 
manifestations of Divine Sovereignty in God's deal- 
ings with man, in which, by the foregoing considera- 
tions, God is vindicated. 

I. In his sovereign control and use for his own ends 
of all men, both good and bad. In noticing this you 
will observe that they, both men and things, must 
either be left to their own choice, or to accident, or to 
the control of God. To suppose the first or the 
second is to suppose that God has abandoned his own 
responsibility to all for all. It is in fact to deny God's 
providential care and superintendence of the affairs 
of the world beyond the enactment and promulgation 
of law, and the expostulations of his grace. An 
absurdity so monstrous that few assert it, while many 
call it in question in particular cases ; but is it not 
obvious that if in a solitary case the rights of sovereign 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 417 

control be denied, on the same principle it should be 
denied in all cases ? If there be any one exception to 
God's right to sovereign control over men or angels, or 
material things, that objection would lie with equal 
force against all control beyond law and moral suasion. 
If he may leave one man or angel out of his control, 
then may he on the same principle leave all out, and 
so his superintending care and his governmental 
responsibilities are at an end. And on the other 
hand, if in any one case for motives within himself he 
may over and above and beyond law and moral con- 
trol, by an unseen but superintending power, and that, 
too, without interfering with or thereby modifying the 
responsibilities of the subjects of his moral govern- 
ment, thus control them, then by the same principle 
may he thus control all the subjects of his moral gov- 
ernment, without in the least thereby interfering with 
their moral responsibilities. Principles of right and 
wrong are of no partial, but of universal application. 
That Divine Sovereignty has thus interposed an abso- 
lute control is clear from the historic word. Again, if 
being and matter be not left to their own choice, or to 
blind chance, then they must be subject to the control 
of God. The record of divine interposition and con- 
trol of wicked agents will clearly show two things, 
viz ; that the control was minutely designed and exe- 
cuted on the part of God, and also that the responsi- 
bility of the agent was not interfered with. Take the 
case of Joseph, Gen. xlv. 4, " For God did send me 
before you to preserve life ; " and verses 7 and 8, 
" God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity 
in the earth, and to save your lives "by a great deliver- 
ance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but 
God, and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh and 
Lord of all his house." It is clear that the entire 
transaction which brought Joseph to his then position 
is ascribed to the minute and superintending care of 
Divine Providence. From the prophetic dream of 
Joseph to his then position, there was a moral neces- 
27 



418 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

sity governing all contingencies. In their hatred, in 
the dreams, and in the selfish state of their hearts, 
was a moral necessity. From their hatred they could 
not speak peaceably to him ; from their hatred and the 
opportunities which presented themselves, there was a 
necessity for all they did concerning Joseph. So in 
the lust of Potiphar's wife and the amiabilities of the 
young man there was a necessity, and so every agent, 
in all the circumstances of his imprisonment, release 
and exaltation to the throne, there was a moral neces- 
sity in the heart of the actors or the circumstances, 
whether the butler or the baker in the dreams of 
Pharaoh, in the famine, etc., etc., a necessity under 
the control of God which guided to and accomplished 
the glorious results. But were Joseph's brethren, Poti- 
phar's wife, the selfishly forgetful butler, or the perse- 
cutors of Joseph who hurt his feet in the fetters, the 
less guilty ? The fact is, moral necessity magnifies the 
guilt, and affords no apology for the transgressor. 
This is clearly seen in this case. The more terrible 
their hatred to Joseph the more fatal the necessity, 
and the deeper their guilt, so of Potiphar's wife, and 
all the other guilty agents ; but God loved Jacob and 
had future use for Israel, and so he controlled all 
these guilty agents to accomplish his own glorious end ; 
thus causing the wrath of man to praise him, and 
restraining the remainder of wrath. 

Thus also in the case of Pharaoh in after years, the 
manifestations of the divine power and glory in sight 
of the nations of the earth, were a result indispensable 
to the establishment of the Theocracy — the reign of 
God over the Jews, a result that revelation could not 
spare. To bring about that result, Pharaoh with his 
overbearing, oppressive, cowardly and reckless course 
was necessary. " For this same purpose," said God, 
" have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in 
thee, and that my name might be known." For his 
oppression there was a moral necessity in his covet- 
ousness and lust of power, and in the feebleness of 



LECTUEES ON EOMANS. 419 

his victim. Therein was his guilt. God wielded it. 
For his vacillating as he did there was a necessity in 
his- cowardice, and in the aspects of divine justice. 
For his temerity, which resulted in his doom, there was 
a necessity in his pride, his unbelief and his love of 
vindictive vengeance upon his escaping victims ; but it 
is obvious that all these necessities afforded no excuse; 
they augmented his guilt; and the deliverance of 
Israel was the triumph of God over Pharaoh and his 
host. It was the triumph of justice over the most 
high-handed wickedness. 

Illustrations might be greatly multiplied, but I will 
mention but one more, and that is the crucifixion of 
Christ. In this instance the two things after which we 
are looking will most clearly appear, viz : — The fact 
and minuteness of control and the non-interference 
with human responsibility. Acts iv. 27 . " For of a truth 
against thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast annointed, 
both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and 
the people of Israel were gathered together, for to do 
whatever thy hand and thy counsel determined before 
to be done." Of these persecuting parties,— ^guilty 
temerity — the prophet had before said, see Ps. iv. 
" Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a 
vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves 
and the rulers gathered together against the Lord 
and against his Christ." And that their responsibility 
was not interfered with by that sovereign control Peter 
says. Acts ii. 23. "Him, being delivered by the deter- 
minate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken 
and by wicked hands have slain." These declarations 
with the simple narrative of all the facts of the case leave 
no doubt upon the mind that their responsibility was not 
tampered with, nor their guilt lessened by the omnipo- 
tent control which God exercised over the whole matter. 
It is equally obvious that God did control it all. His 
hand and his counsel determined what they all did. 
To suppose that any event in that transaction was left 
to uncertain contingencies and without Divine appoint- 



420 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

ment and control is to impeach God's omnipotence, his 
wisdom, and his power. On that transaction hinged 
the great work of redemption. A failure to put the Son 
of God to death would have frustrated the whole enter- 
prise ! Could its Author be indifferent.-* On the minu- 
tiae of the acts and scenes at his death depended the 
truth of prophesy, — his future credentials; could he 
be indifferent to, or leave lose the minutest of those 
scenes ? His only begotten Son was the sufferer under 
all these hands ; could his loving Father be indiffer- 
ent ? or leave him subject to caprice, or accident ? A 
just conception of the character of God certainly for- 
bids. Men put the scourge, the nails, the wormwood 
and the gall into his cup, but yet the Father hath min- 
gled it, and put it to his lips. I will only say in con- 
clusion, in these instances Divine Sovereignty could 
purpose and control the wicked agents to the exact 
accomplishment of its own will without interfering 
with their moral responsibilities, and if so, then the 
same is true of all the affairs of men and things. God 
reigns over devils and wicked men by his government 
of power, or his forced government, and thus secures 
the holy and gives justice to the vile. The conclusion 
from all these instances is truthfully summed up by 
the Apostle in our chapter, from the 22nd to the 23rd 
verses — (chap, ix.) "What if God, willing to show 
his wrath and make his power known, endured with 
much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to des- 
truction." In all the operations of his sovereignty it 
has been a matter of forbearance, and by overtures and 
opportunities of kindness affording them opportunities 
to develop their wickedness in sight of angels and 
men in order that God's retributive wrath may redound 
to his glory in their sight. And so also on the part of 
the saved, his patient forbearance will have developed 
their utter depravity, and put the crown of salvation 
on the head of sovereign grace. The riches of his 
grace are thus magnified ; thus they will stand out in 
the light of all worlds as plucked up from.unmingled 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 421 

guilt, and just condemnation, and converted from utter 
sinfulness to righteousness. Our proposition stands 
good — ^salvation is a sovereign gratuity. 

Before we pass from this Doctrine of Divine Sover- 
eignty, I wish to present for your consideration the rela- 
tion it sustains to the entire work of salvation. This 
relation you may discover from what has been already 
said. But I wish to present it in so clear a light that 
divested of the absurd myths that prejudice and spir- 
itual blindness have thrown around it you may feel and 
see its eternal propriety, yea, more, its indispensable 
necessity and its benignant utility. I will notice two 
things. 

1, Of absolute sovereignty itself, and 

2. Its application to the entire work of salvation. 

I. God's sovereignty is absolute over all creatures 
and things. To do justice to the subject a volume is 
required. A few distinct points must suffice. 

1. God is the Creator of all beings and things. His 
proprietorship is absolute; there is none in the uni- 
verse to dispute it. 

2. God originated all creatures and things with 
design, for one great end, viz : his own glory. Indif- 
ference to any part of that which he has made to that 
end cannot be conceived of; that he has a choice, a 
preference concerning all, is self-evident. 

3. That his choice, care, preference concerning all 
to the minutiae, even the smallest atom, or to the most 
inferior being is equally obvious. The well known 
connection between cause and effect often gives con- 
sequence to the atom, or to the fly, unsurpassed by 
that of a star or an angel. To leave either without 
his control might endanger the whole. 

4. If any being he has made has rights to be 
respected even by himself as sacred, those rights are 
not only in harmony with, but are derived from him, 
and had their origin and relations from his sovereign 
choice and power. His choice concerning them, while 
it is arbitrary and absolute, can never be aggressive 



422 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

upon the rights of any. The rights of God are inher- 
ent in the rights of the insect and the angel. To 
infringe upon either would be to infringe on his own 
rights. 

5. God's power is co-extensive with his pleasure, or 
his choice. Choice, purpose and power are never 
separated in God, nor wanting in relation to all his 
works, to all existence resultant from his power. 

Put all these self-evident considerations together, 
and you have God's sovereignty absolute, minute and 
efficient. 

II. The application of this doctrine to the work of 
salvation. 

What is true of Israel as stated by Esaias, and 
quoted by Paul in verse 29, is true of a lost world: 
" Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a remnant, 
we had been as Sodom and like unto Gomorrah." To 
the sovereign, electing, absolute and discriminating 
purpose of God, backed by his omnipotence, shall the 
salvation of all the redeemed be ascribed, and as the 
equitable and judicial administrative, to it will the 
final disposal of all the lost be ascribed. Properly to 
discuss this proposition I feel again a volume is 
demanded, but I shall present only a few points of 
illustration and evidence, yet of so definite, clear and 
obvious force as, I hope, will settle the truth of it for- 
ever in your minds, leaving much to your present and 
future thought and investigation. 

1. Sin, the guilt of apostasy, is co-extensive with 
the race of man. 

2. The just and equitable condemnation of God's 
holy law is also co-extensive with the race. The legal 
sentence of the law is upon them, and justice demands 
that in due time judicial sentence shall follow, inflict- 
ing executive wrath. 

3. The purpose to save and restore any of the lost 
could not originate with the lost themselves. In the 
turpitude of their apostasy there is a moral necessity 
of its continuance. For restoration they have no 



LECTURES OK ROMANS. 423 

rights to plead, nor desire to return to allegiance if 
they could ; nor could such a desire originate with 
created holiness in their behalf. Without grasping 
the indemnity to the law by the death of Christ, such 
a desire on their part would have been treason against 
God's just government; with the transgressor they 
could have no sympathy. The purpose to save, there- 
fore, could only originate with God, or give to justice a 
sacrifice which would indemnify justice, and so mag- 
nify his law without his own impeachment as the 
administrator and executive of a just government. 
The purpose, the desire to save, therefore, had its 
origin in absolute sovereignty. 

4. The vicarious sacrifice of Christ, the unknown 
and unthought-of, on the part of the created, assump- 
tion of man's sin, and the suffering of Christ instead 
of the guilty, could only proceed from God. The con- 
ception of such a sacrifice could only originate in the 
Infinite mind. The furnishing of such a sacrifice, 
and the entire accomplishment of that work of pro- 
vision for salvation could only proceed from the infin- 
ity of God. Thus far surely, sovereignty, absolute and 
uncounseled, acts alone. 

5. The heart rejection of this provision for man's 
recovery from the fall is co-extensive with the race. 
The waywardness of the heart that rushed into apos- 
tasy and committed the guilt, spurned the homage 
which Christ in his death paid to the law which they 
had violated. To whomsoever Christ was made known 
without exception, the carnal heart did two things, — it 
stumbled at the stone, spurned Christ and cleaved to 
the revolt. The rejection of the Gospel is co-extensive 
with the race. Had sovereignty stopped here with 
all the overtures of mercy and moral persuasion 
that have ever reached the ear of apostate man, — not 
a soul of man would have been saved. To use the 
words of the prophet, we should have been as Sodom, 
and have been made like unto Gomorrah. To save, it 
was needful for sovereignty unsought, and self-moved, 



424 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

or with motives in itself, to do two things more : — i. To 
select or to elect from the fallen mass those individuals 
on whom the work of recovering grace should be accom- 
plished. All stand upon a level in sin before God, alike 
in guilt, and alike in indisposition ; none have claims. 
The election must be sovereign. It must be from 
motives in himself, sovereign and gratuitous. To'sum 
up the argument on this point, all are alike claimless. 
All are alike indisposed and disinclined to elect them- 
selves. God himself can begin the work of moral 
recovery on none until he has elected the individual 
on whom to begin the work. All willingness on the 
part of man is the fruit, not the cause, of recovering 
and subduing grace. To make men willing is the spec- 
ial work of the Holy Ghost. Therefore the election 
must be of God, as stated by Paul — Ephes. i. 3, 4. 
" Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, who hath blessed us according as he hath chosen 
us in him before the foundation of the world, that we 
should be holy and without blame before him in love." 
And in chap. ii. 9 and 10 — "Not of works, lest any 
man should boast, for we are his workmanship, created 
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before 
ordained that we should walk in them.*' The redeemed 
will be indebted to God for personal favor, and the pre- 
working of his Spirit in every act of their lives, which 
is recorded on God's book as a loyal act- — in all their 
lives. We therefore come to the unavoidable conclu- 
sion that sovereign, electing grace is the omnipotent 
cause to which is to be ascribed the salvation of all 
that are to be saved of our fallen race. Divine Sover- 
eignty is the source whence flows the purpose, the pro- 
vision, the election, and the regeneration of all that 
ever have been or will be saved. 

The same may be affirmed concerning the finally lost, 
with this striking difference which is never to be lost 
sight of, viz : — that the decisions of Divine Sovereignty 
are negative, — the non-interference with, and the non- 
revocation of the sinner's choice — a gracious forbear- 



LECTIJEES ON ROMANS. 425 

ance until the vileness and persevering temerity of that 
choice shall develop itself in the sight of all worlds, 
and the equitable and judicial execution of simple jus- 
tice, in all of which the freedom, all that constitutes 
the sinner's responsibility, is not interfered with. Let 
it be distinctly remarked that this negative decree of 
Divine Sovereignty is oiily the non-interference of his 
forced government. By it their relations under his 
moral government are left untouched. Every thing 
which under that can be done for their good, and which 
love and kindness can do for them is done. To them 
the door of mercy is fully opened. They are pressed 
with the commands, expostulations and entreaties of 
God, who swears to them by his own life that he has 
no pleasure in their death, but would that they should 
turn and live. See Ezek. xviii. 32. He stays the exe- 
cution of justice upon them, hedges them about with 
his kindness, hedges their way to death with obstacles 
of persuasive love, and at the last when they shall 
freely and of their own guilty choice, have broken 
through every barrier of love, when they shall have 
trampled redemption mercies under their feet, and thus 
become, to use Paul's words, "fitted to destruction," 
when they shall thus have sealed their own doom, the 
sovereignty of God, ever in harmony with the equity of 
his moral government, does in the execution of its own 
also execute the decree of the sinner. He does but 
execute simple justice. 

This is reprobation, or, if you please, decretive rep- 
robation, against which no candid thoughtful mind can 
offer an objection, — against which no murmur will arise 
at the last day. The Holy will shout " Alleluiah! " and 
the hosts of the lost and of devils will be silent. I close 
this discussion then with this simple statement, viz : — 
Both the salvation of the redeemed, and the doom of 
the lost are reached by the decretive, the absolute, and 
the minute control of God's sovereignty, with this dif- 
ference, — in the case of the saved Divine Sovereignty 
for its own gracious and loving ends interposes omnip- 



426 NATHAlJOEL COLVER. 

otence, In addition to the Infinite and ample provisions 
of his grace, and persuasive overtures, and expostula- 
tions of his love to make the sinner willing; while 
in the case of the lost, under all the free exhibi- 
tions of his love, and mercy, and long-suffering, and 
forbearance he does not interpose his omnipotence to 
prevent them from having their own choice. The kind- 
ness, the equity and the justice of God are vindicated 
in both. And at the last day all worlds shall unite in 
giving glory, honor, might, dominion and power to him 
that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb forever 
and ever, for the wonders of redeeming grace, and glory ; 
halleluiah, and honor when the smoke and the torment 
of the wicked ascendeth up, for the Lord God omnipo- 
tent reigneth ; yea, there will come up a sweet savor of 
Christ from them that are lost. See 2 Cor. ii. 15. 



LECTURE XXXI. 
Rom. IX. 31. 

" But Israel which followed after the law of right- 
eousness hath not attained to the law of righteous- 
ness," etc. 

Prop, — By the deeds of the law; by works, or in 
other words, by personal obedience to the requisitions 
of God there can no flesh be saved. The way of 
escape from sin and death by any code of virtue — 
by conformity to the law of God itself, has been one 
of the most fatal delusions of man. By it none ever 
became righteous. 

I. This is seen by the feilure of the Jews, many of 
whom were zealous of the law. Paul himself testifies 
of them, " for I bear them record that they have a 
zeal for God." But they failed, and he tells the rea- 
son why. " Being ignorant of God's righteousness, 
and going about to establish a righteousness of their 
own, they have not submitted themselves unto the 



LECTTJRES ON ROMANS. 427 

righteousness of God." They gloried in the law of 
God, perfect obedience to which is life. But that per- 
fect righteousness which God and his law demands is 
found only Christ, imputed to the believer in Christ, 
and transferred by the renewing and sanctifying power 
of the Holy Ghost to the believer. Over this fact the 
Jews stumbled, for they " stumbled at that stumbling 
stone," and hence with all their zeal for God they 
failed. All their acts of seeming obedience were 
qualified by the state of their hearts, which rendered 
seeming and even technical obedience rebellious. 
They sprung from a sinister root ; the same root that 
sent forth the rejection, and scorn, and hatred, and 
malice, and violence, and murder of the Son of God. 
They followed after the law of righteousness, but they 
never overtook it. The very law in which they gloried 
condemned them to death. 

2. None can live by a personal conformity to God's 
law, because it is too late. If it could be so that sin- 
less perfection should follow from any period of a 
man's life, the fearful sins, the moral debt of the past, 
would rise up to condemn him. The future demands 
all ; if that all be rendered, the claims of the future 
are only met. There is nothing to spare for the claims 
of the past. 

3. The law of God, of righteousness, is a unit. The 
whole of its authority is in every minute part. " He 
that offends in the iota is .guilty of the whole." The 
righteousness of Christ therefore imputed and trans- 
ferred to the sinner by faith can alone justify him 
before God. 

4. ^Every one who seeks to work out a righteousness 
of his own, however earnest or sincere, or who thinks 
he can work out a righteousness of his own, or intends 
or purposes to work out a righteousness of his own, 
will be sure to stumble at that stumbling-stone. To 
all such, Christ understood, will be sure to be an 
offense. 

5. This delusion is the more fatal because so com- 



428 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

plete, so specious is it, that it enlists not only the heart 
but the judgment and conscience. Under its baleful 
influence Paul was as conscientious in his persecutions 
of Christ as he was afterwards in his service. To the 
unenlightened from above, salvation by faith, really 
appears like a way of escaping from condemnation 
without righteousness. To understand how the law of 
righteousness is attained by faith without works is a 
mystery, seldom, if ever, grasped by the unquickened 
soulo Of legal righteousness, or works, the carnal 
mind can only conceive. Upon the righteousness of 
faith, or by faith, the wisdom of man looks down with 
conscientious pride and scorn. It is to be feared that 
at this day there are thousands, who under the ritual- 
istic Pharisaism of the Gospel are as conscientiously 
earnest in establishing a righteousness of their own, 
and even with the name of Jesus upon their tongues, 
have no conception of the righteousness of God, 
which is purely by faith without works, as were those 
of whom Paul speaks in the 3rd and 4th verses of 
chapter x.,and to whom this 5th verse is an unfathom- 
able mystery or untruth, viz : " For Christ is the 
end of the law for righteousness to every one that 
believeth." 

In all the work of an evangelical ministry there is 
nothing pertaining to man's condition which imposes 
more fearful responsiblility, or which will so put his 
judgment, his skill and his integrity to the test as this. 
To discern the sly workings of this delusion demands 
a spiritual eye. To tear away the veil from those 
deceived by it demands a firmness which the pure 
love of God in the soul only can give. To make 
known to such the deception of their hope, and the 
unmodified and fearful virulence of their guilt, demands 
a boldness not of the carnal, but of the spiritual sol- 
dier of Christ — a boldness which no animal courage 
can give ; a boldness that has no price, but is inspired 
by fidelity to God. 

I will not multiply words, but I speak with no ordi- 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 429 

nary desire that the weight of what I say should be 
felt ; that in your work for the Master to which you 
have been called you will find no point in all your 
labors in which there are more numerous or more 
subtle temptations to unfaithfulness, or so many liabil- 
ities to failure, as at this one. There will be no point 
around which such fearful responsibilities cluster as 
around this. 

As you would guard souls at a point of life and 
death, let no indifference paralyze your vigilance here ; 
let no obtuseness becloud your minds on this point ; I 
pray you, let there be no sinister trifling with old or 
young at this place where two seas meet, and where 
millions wreck and go down to despair. The Jews 
expected a Messiah, but their imaginary Messiah was 
a myth, the real Messiah they rejected, O ! it is to 
be feared the Jesus upon thousands of tongues is as 
much a myth, and their reliance upon works, and their 
heart-ignorance of the real Jesus as profound as was 
that of the Jews. To undeceive a Pharisaic world, 
both Jews and Gentiles, is no small share of your 
work as preachers of that faith which relies upon the 
righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. 



LECTURE XXXII. 

Rom. X. 17 -13 -15. 

" So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by 
the word of God, for whosoever shall call on the name 
of the Lord shall be saved. How shall they call on 
him in whom they have not believed ; and how shall 
they believe on him of whom they have not heard, and 
how shall they hear without a preacher, and how shall 
they preach except they are sent, as it is written: 
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of 
them who preach the Gospel of peace, and bring 
glad tidings of good things." 



430 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

From these unequivocal declarations, I deduce the 
following proposition, which I wish you earnestly to 
consider, viz : 

Prop. — God in the exercise of his sovereign pre- 
rogative has ordained that his people shall be saved, 
not without, but in the use of means — those instru- 
mentalities which he has appointed, or to use the 
language of Scripture itself, " By the foolishness of 
preaching to save them that believe." 

1. We have seen in discussing the doctrine of Divine 
Sovereignty that in no case or degree does it interfere 
with or fetter the functions of God's moral govern- 
ment. We have seen that the forced government of 
God is ever superadded to moral appliances, and that 
too for a gracious end, and that it in no wise mars or 
renders inappropriate law, command, expostulation, or 
persuasion. From his profound investigation, and 
clear and hearty vindication of the sovereignty of God 
in his electing, regenerating and saving grace, Paul 
comes forth all aglow for the work. Upon the burn-- 
ing ardor of his heart for the work of salvation, and 
his anxious care for the condition of the lost, or upon . 
his zeal to make known to them the way of life upon 
the blood of the cross, there has fallen no chill ; no 
shadow of antinomian presumption falls upon his 
pathway; he hails the beauty of the feet upon the 
mountains of those who preach the gospel of peace. 
He proclaims afresh the indispensable necessity of 
the heralds of salvation to the accomplishment of 
God's glorious work of saving grace. " How shall 
they believe on him of whom they have not heard, and 
how shall they hear without a preacher.? " If from the 
creed of any their zeal for the work of the gospel is 
chilled, and the most earnest effort to win souls to 
Christ seems to them inappropriate or inconsistent, 
either their creeds or their hearts are at fault and 
defective. They are not Pauline. 

2. In God's appeal to the hearts of men he does not 
set aside or ignore the intellect. If his forced govern- 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 431 

ment interfere it is to do no violence to the laws of 
nature, but to chasten, correct, and invigorate the nat- 
ural functions of manhood. Does he quicken the eye 
into vision ? He gives it light by which to discern, and 
objects on which to look. Does he quicken the body 
into life.'' He gives an atmosphere to breathe, and 
motives to the intellectual development of life's activi- 
ties. So does he quicken the heart into the moral 
activities of Love .'* He presents to that heart through 
the intellectual discernment a God to love, a Christ 
to trust, a holiness to inspire, and a prize for which to 
run. Grace aims not merely to rescue the sinner from 
the punishment of sin, but the whole man from its 
death-fetters as well the intellect as the heart. Indeed, 
God appeals to the heart through the intellect. It is 
through the intellect that God sets himself before the 
heart. The Gospel itself is his power (through its 
intellectual appeal to the heart) unto salvation. The 
whole Bible contemplates saving men in no other way. 
The heart never acts but by its apprehension through 
the intellect. Whether it chooses or repels, it must dis- 
cern the object. If therefore God by the abstract 
power of the Holy Ghost will change the heart from 
sin to himself, he will^ he must^ through the enlighten- 
ment of the truth, set sin and himself so before the 
mind, or heart, that it can act in view of them both. 
Indeed, if the abstract power of the Spirit change the 
heart, it is to the love of truth itself. This it cannot do 
if there be no truth presented for the heart to love. 
This added power of the Spirit is what faith has reason 
to expect, and herein is the encouragement to speak, to 
run, to toil for the salvation of dying men. 
^ 3. The sovereignty of God is so far from a dissua- 
sive to labor, a dissuasive to warn, to plead, to expos- 
tulate with men, that it is the very inspiration of effort, 
and nerves the soul to warn and rebuke the soul with 
all long-suffering and doctrine. The sovereign, elect- 
ing love of God carries its own vitalizing energies from 
the throne through all the host of God's elect for the 



432 NATHANIEL COLYEK. 

accomplishment of the work, and the heart that can 
make it an apology for indifference, or inactivity is with- 
out the circle of its electric influence. It is not right 
before God. The heart that gets its zeal from ignor- 
ing the electing love of Divine Sovereignty is blind to 
the disease it would cure, and to the remedy which 
alone can heal or save. He heals slightly the hurt of 
the soul. It is a misguided zeal that ends in ruin ; 
when the blind lead the blind, they both fall into the 
ditch. 

LECTURE XXXIII. 
Rom. XI, II, 12, 15. 

One more beautiful exemplification of the Doctrine 
of Divine Sovereignty in the work of salvation is seen 
in the fall and rejection of the Jews. When we shall 
have noticed this we are at the end of the Apostles' 
wonderful exhibition of the plan of redemption. 

" I say, then, have they stumbled that they should 
fall ? God forbid. But through their fall, salvation is 
come to the Gentiles for to provoke them to jealousy. 
Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and 
the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, 
how much more their fullness ? For if the casting 
away of them be the reconciling of the world, what 
shall the receiving of them be but life from the death." 

For an understanding of these passages let us notice 
three things : 

1. The relation of the Jews to God and of Christ to 
the Jews. 

2. The dissolution of this relation and of this design. 

3. The relation of the saved^ both Jews and Gentiles 
to Christ, 

I. The Jews were under a covenant of life to the 
holy, but of death to transgressors, and so of death to 
them. They were in bondage, and in their relations to 
God, they answered as a covenant people, they 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 433 

answered to the relation which Hagar sustained to 
Abraham. See Gal. iv. 22-25. Their covenant was 
that of the law ; they had received it, as said Stephen, 
" by the disposition of angels," and had not kept it ; 
they were in bondage unto sin and death. They had 
sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression 
against positive law, and a law too, which they them- 
selves had sanctioned as good, and were under its curse. 
Their position was in some respects unique; their trans- 
gression was complete in guilt, and their bondage was 
under the penal demands of justice, stern and inflexi- 
ble. It was in this condition that Christ assumed his 
relationbhip to them. He became one of them. As 
concerning the flesh he came of them. " He was made 
of a woman, made under the law, that he might redeem 
them that were under the law." He assumed their 
position under the law. He assumed their guilt and 
their curse. As one of them, he became obnoxious to 
the curse of the law which they had violated. Theirs 
was a state of apostate nature, and though free from 
sin he entered that state. It was in that state that the 
Jews were his natural branches. Not nominally as 
most would have it, but natural branches. See Rom. 
xi. 1-24. Christ is the good olive-tree, and the Jews 
were its natural branches ; his branches in a state of 
nature, a state of bondage. By their covenant they 
(and he was one of them having assumed their state) 
were doomed to wrath. Life was forfeited, and 
demanded of justice ; and its demands were backed 
by the integrity and omnipotence of the Godhead. 
This was their state, and this the relation Christ sus- 
tained to them, and had he been a mere man he would, 
having assumed that relation, have perished with them 
but not for them. 

2. Let us notice the dissolution of this relation and 
its design. It is a question it behooves us well to 
understand, what is meant by the breaking off of the 
natural branches. I remark: 

I. It was not the expulsion of the Jews from the 
28 



434 NATHANIEL COLYEE. 

church to make room for the Gentiles. The Jews 
never belonged to the Gospel Church, nor did Chris- 
tians as such ever join the Jewish Church. Beside, 
there could be no want of room in either for all that 
should want a place in them. Neither was it a rejection 
of them from God's providential forbearance and kind- 
ness, it was indeed as much a matter for their good as 
it was for the good of others. See v. 12: "How much 
more therefore their fullness." Neither was it the 
purging of the Jewish Church of unbelieving mem- 
bers ; no such disciplinary law or process was ever 
instituted ; if one were a descendant from Abraham, 
he v/as entitled to membership, except for the violation 
of some specific law. He had incurred the death 
penalty, or was a leper, and put apart for physical 
uncleanness, or a eunuch, in which case, regardless of 
moral character, they were shut out of the camp. 

It was a dissolution between Christ and his natural 
branches. His natural (not nominal) branches were 
broken off, and broken off as an act indispensable to 
the salvation of either Jews or Gentiles. "What 
then? Have they stumbled that they should fall? 
God forbid. Through their fall salvation has come 
to the Gentiles to provoke them to jealousy." The 
dissolution was intended as much for the benefit of 
the Jewish as for the Gentile world. The m.anner of 
breaking off, of the dissolution, will also very clearly 
indicate the end or design. 

In that transaction was fulfilled the prophecy of 
Isaiah liii: "All we like sheep have gone astray — the 
Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all ; " and v. 
10, "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath 
put him to grief; when thou shalt make his soul (life) 
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed; he shall 
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall 
prosper in his hand." The time of his cutting off 
came, and through the Eternal Spirit he offered him- 
self without spot unto God. Before the law he 
assumed the guilt of the Jews; and as the greater 



LECTURES OK ROMANS. 435 

always involves the less, he assumed the sin of the 
Gentile, as well as the Jewish world. With the Jews 
he was under the claims of justice; he met those 
claims , he asked for no abatement, plead guilty, and 
bared his bosom to the sword of divine justice. The 
stroke fell, and he sunk in death, the substitute of the 
guilty. He made his life an offering; he suffered "the 
just for the unjust," a suffering spectacle, under the 
eye of the universe. The judicial vengeance of the 
law was poured upon him. The debt was paid, he 
"restored that which he took not away." In so doing 
he obtained release and passed out through the portals 
of death, thus dissolving forever his relation to his 
natural branches. He left them in bondage, but the 
door of escape was left open behind him. Such as 
believed in him passed out with him. And having 
escaped^ he proclaims the way of escape to both Jews 
and Gentiles through that act of his own escape from 
bondage and death; and from all that were his nat- 
ural branches, and so with him in bondage. It is in 
this way that their fall is the riches of the Gentiles, 
and their own ultimate fulfeess. The bond-woman 
gives place to the free-woman; Jerusalem, which is 
above and is free, bears children. Jerusalem which now 
is, and is in bondage with her children, is cast out. 
So then, brethren, as Isaac was, we are not children of 
the bond- woman, but of the free. While gospel mer- 
cies appeal to the Jews as men, in common with the 
Gentiles as a covenant people, they are rejected — 
" their house is left unto them desolate." As Abraham 
sent Hagar away, so God sends his bond-people away, 
now that the grace covenant has borne a people. The 
natural branches are broken off. When Christ passed 
from that state of bondage he left them there; "true, 
because of unbelief they were broken off." Had they 
believed on him they had passed out with him, but 
they preferred their bondage. Their pride and self- 
righteousness stumbled at the humbling way of escape 
through the merits of the Saviour's blood, and so 
rejected him, and sealed their own doom. 



436 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

3. We come now, in the third place, to consider the 
relation which, in the allegorical language of the 
Apostle in this chapter, he gives to such as are saved, 
both Jews and Gentiles. 

This he states in verse 24 : " For if thou wert cut 
out of the olive-tree, which is wild by nature, and wert 
grafted contrary to nature into a good olive-tree, how 
much more shall these which be the natural branches 
be grafted into their own olive-tree ? 

Here we have two olive-trees. No doubt allusion is 
had to the two organic heads mentioned in the fifth 
chapter, the first and second Adam. The olive-tree 
was a type of moral fruit-bearing man. Its fruit was 
sacred to temple use. The first Adam before he fell 
was such a tree, but he became estrayed from God, 
and wild. Such were his branches. All men bear 
olive-berries still, but wild ones. Moral character 
attaches to their deeds, though sinful and wild, well 
described as wild olive-berries. To this wild olive- 
tree the fallen world belong. From this wild olive- 
tree the Gentiles are cut. The tree is doomed to be 
burned, but what of it God will spare, he cuts from it. 
In their case judgment is anticipated. They are con- 
demned beforehand. This is what the Apostle calls 
*' slain by the law." It is what every new-born soul 
experiences in his conviction of sin. He is separated 
from the stock into a perfect individuality and cut off, 
condemned. Left there, despair and damnation would 
begin ; but his judgment is hastened, for a purpose of 
mercy. The tree lives on for the final judgment, but 
he has the judgment now. Paul himself has the 
same experience when he says, *' I was alive once 
without the law, but when the commandment came sin 
revived, and I died." The horticulturist slays the 
scion, when he severs it from its original stock, but not 
for its destruction, but salvation. So also the great 
husbandman severs the branch from the wild olive- 
tree, not for its destruction, but that he may graft it 
into a good olive-tree, that is into himself, for Christ is 
the good olive-tree. 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 437 

But mark, this grafting into the good tree is peculiar. 
The Apostle says it is contrary to nature. This is no 
mistaken figure — ^''contrary to nature.'' To make his 
figure complete the law of nature is changed. If the 
grafting were according to nature, the scion would still 
bear the fruit of the old stock. But in this case, it is 
cojitrary to nature, and the scion, bad in its original 
stock, is made to bear the fruit of the tree into which 
it is grafted. The sap of the tree into which it is 
grafted, in passing through it and giving it nourish- 
ment and life, is not changed, as by the law of nature 
it would be into the character of the scion, but changes 
the character of the scion, and still sends forth its own 
fruit. Thus it is indeed that souls, grafted into Christ, 
are assimilated into his likeness, and henceforth they 
have their fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting 
life. Their character, their state and their doom are by 
this grafting changed from the wild olive-tree to the 
good olive-tree. They are hid with Christ in God, and 
when he who is their life shall appear, then shall they 
also appear with him in glory. 

But this is not peculiar to the Gentiles. The Jews 
never lost their relation to the first Adam. They were 
with him under the covenant of law and of death. It 
was that state which Christ assumed with them. It 
was in that state that they were his natural branches. 
In saving them they are put upon a level with the 
Gentiles. As Paul says, Ephes. ii. 14-18, "For he 
is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath 
broken down the middle wall of partition between us, 
having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law 
of commandments, contained in ordinances, for to 
make in himself of twain, one new man, so making 
peace. And that he might reconcile both unto God 
in one body by the Cross, having slain the enmity 
thereby, and came and preached peace unto you which 
were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through 
him we both have access by one Spirit unto the 
Father." The distinctions of the Sinai covenant were 



438 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

temporary and ended at the cross. Henceforth, Jews 
and Gentiles stood upon the dead level of sin and 
death, to be saved by the same process of grace. So 
says the Apostle in our text, " How much more shall 
these which be the natural branches be grafted into 
theiT- own olive-tree. " He was their own olive-tree, he 
was of them. He was the "holy one of Israel," and 
the only " holy one " of Israel. The relation Christ 
had sustained to them had afforded them opportunities 
of light, and of the transformation of character, which, 
when grafted into Christ as the Gentiles were, contrary 
to nature, developed the scion into blossom and fruit, 
and the beautiful and vigorous life of the tree, with a 
facility and readiness unknown to the Gentiles, whose 
minds were enveloped in the almost rayless darkness 
of the Gentile world. Well might the Apostle say, 
'"''hoT.v much 7?iore their fullness." Of such materials 
were composed the host of early disciples, displaying 
an early and vigorous development never surpassed, 
and rarely if ever equalled by converts from the Gen- 
tile world. 

Well may the Apostle exclaim, in view of this won- 
derful development of the plan of saving mercy — 
" Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God ! 
on them which fell — severity; but toward thee — good- 
ness, if thou continue in his goodness : but othenvise 
thou shalt be cut off." This was the ruin of the Roman 
Church, — the substitution of will- worship, and they 
are cut off by the same death of Christ. Romanism 
and Judaism are twin sisters. God will save to holi- 
ness, or destroy in guilt. Law righteousness will as 
assuredly sever the Gentile from Christ as the Jew. 
The Gentile can no more be saved in his own goodness 
than the Jew. His (God's) goodness adhered to by 
faith can alone save. Pharisaism is the bane of the 
world, — the snare of the Gentile as well as the Jew. 
Well may the Apostle at this ver)^ point of his argument 
lift up his warning voice — "Salvation is no more of 
works, but of grace," to the humbling, but infinite bene- 



LECTURES ON ROMANS. 439 

fit of man, and to the infinite and eternal glory of 
Christ. 

In view of this whole, this mighty argument of the 
Apostle to exalt Christ as the hope of a dying world, 
and to bring out to understanding and enriching the 
children of God in this marvelous exhibition of the' 
God-devised plan o-f Redemption, his apostrophe to 
grace from the 33rd to the 36th verse inclusive is a 
fitting close — "O! the depths and the riches both of 
the wisdom and knowledge of God ! How unsearch- 
able are his judgments, and his ways past finding out. 
For who hath known the mind of the Lord ? or, who 
hath been his counsellor? or, who hath first given to 
him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again ? For 
of him and through him, and to him are all things ; to 
whom be glory forever. Amen." 



Plans of Sermons. 



Plans of Sermons. 



Job XL. 4. — Behold^ I am vile ; what shall I answer 
thee ? I will lay my hand upon my mouth. 

Int. Job ? His friends ? God ? 

Doct. Mercy is the good man's only plea with God. 
He may vindicate his integrity against evil aspersions 
of men, but before God he is dumb. 

1. The very virtues which may vindicate him with 
men, are defective before God. God goes behind the 
act, to the heart-motive. 

II. The wicked may accuse good mtn falsely, and at 
the same time overlook their real faults, while God 
sees them all. 

III. That there is but a spot, or spots, on us, may 
vindicate us with men ; but that there is a spot on us, 
will make us dumb before God. 

IV. As good men get very near to God, they see 
their sins in the light of his countenance, and join 
with God in their abhorrence. 

Ref. I. Self-complacency is the growth of dark- 
ness, nourished by the partialities of pride ; but it dies 
in the light of God. 

2. Good men may be as bad as their enemies con- 
ceive of them, and yet their enemies may be false 
accusers, and malignant. 

3. Would we bring sinners to repentance, we must 
oring the light to them. They must see themselves 
in the light of God. 

443 



444 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

4. Contact with God, on the mercy-seat, will give 
self-abhorrence, with hope ; but on the judgment seat, 
self-abhorrence, with despair. 



II. 

Isaiah XXVI. 20. — Come^ my people^ enter thou {?ito 
thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee j hide thyself 
as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be 
overpast. 

Int. Expo. My people ? Chambers ? Until } 
Doct. It is the prerogative of God's people, by faith, 
to hide themselves in God, when the storm of indigna- 
tion falls upon the nation where they dwell. 

1. The dwelling-place of his people, in the chambers 
of his presence, have the door-posts sprinkled with 
blood. They are excepted in the commission of the 
destroying angel. 

II. They are secure in the assurance that the very 
destructive storm of indignation that sweeps around 
them is for their release, for their benefit. "All 
things," etc. 

III. The chamber, to which faith retires, is the 
chamber of the divine presence. There they are not 
only relieved from the darkness of the doomed, but 
the mysterious light of God is in their blood-guarded 
dwelling. 

Ref. I. There is reason for this invitation of God 
to his people, and why they should avail themselves of 
such a retreat. " Behold the Lord cometh out of his 
place," (v. 21) to punish the inhabitants of the earth. 

2. To avail ourselves of this invitation, we must be 
his people in the evangelical sense of that title. Storm 
after storm fell upon his typical people, until all but 
his spiritual people perished. 

3. Woe to the shelterless when the storms of God's 
indignation fall; none escape the flood. Sodom, Israel. 



PLANS OF SERMONS. 445 



III. 



John XVII. 17. — Sanctify them through thy truth: 
thy word is truth. 

Int. Expo. Sanctify? Them? Through? Thy 
truth ? 

Doct. The truths of the gospel, as taught in the 
word of God, are at once the. standard of perfection 
in the saints and the instrument of their consecration. 

1. It is the standard and the instrument of their 
sanctification to God. The truths of the soul are in 
perfect harmony with God. When Christians are in 
heart and life in harmony with God, so with God 

II. It is the standard and instrument of their sanc- 
tification to the saints. God's gospel truth is both the 
bond and the law of Christian unity. If they are 
steadfast in anything, it is in the faith or by the faith. 

III. It is at once the standard and the instrument 
of sanctification to the service of God. The mind of 
God, and the details of conformity to that mind, are 
the formative power and the transformed beauty of 
the soul. 

Ref. I. It is the solemn duty of the ministers to 
teach the gospel, the truth as it is revealed in the scrip- 
tures, with its authority over the conscience, and with 
all its bearing upon both saint and sinner. 

2. One great cause of the weakness of the churches ; 
they want the bond of truth. They call for entertain- 
ment rather than edification. The demand has made 
the supply. To a great extent the ministry is sub- 
sidized. 

3. We have reason to hope that the evangelical 
sanctification of the saints would soon be followed by 
the regeneration of sinners. Then will they teach 
" transgressors thy ways, and sinners will be converted " 
to God. 



446 NATHANIEL COLVEE. 



IV. 



Isaiah LXVI. 2.- — And that t?'einbleth at my word. 

Int. Expo. To him? That trembleth? At my 
word? 

Doct. The Bible, the Scriptures, the word of God 
demands our most profound reverence — even the rev- 
erence due to its author, and which forbids all trifling. 

1. Because it is God's word, its authority is not 
intrinsic, but extrinsic ; not in itself but in its author. 
As we treat God's word we treat God. It is fearful to 
trifle with the word of a king, but more so to trifle with 
the word of God. 

II. Because God's word is the perfect and dirinely 
authorized standard of life, by which we must be 
judged at the last day, perverted at our peril, and pre- 
served intact by the retributions of eternity. 2 Tim. 
iii. 16; John xii. 48; Rev. xxii. 18-19. 

III. Because God will magnify his word above all 
his name. He will fulfil it ; not a promise or threat- 
ning shall fail ; he will avenge it. At that day when 
God shall judge the world, triflers will stand amazed. 

JR.ef. I. If all this be true, the Scriptures should be 
read prayerfully. We need the Spirit to remove pre- 
judice, promote the love of the truth, and quicken the 
understanding. 

2. Studiously, understanding is a labor, and know- 
ledge by research, and taken in by rumination. 

3. In faith, or believingly; unbelief is subtle; it 
hides in indifl'erence, in indecision. The slowness of 
heart to believe deprived the disciples of the benefit 
of all that Christ had said about his death and resur- 
rection. This is largely the case with all disciples in 
reading the Bible. 

4. Obediently; the gospel is truth not only to be 
learned, but obeyed. Almost every truth implies 
some duty which it enjoins. Much of it is only known 
in obedience. " If any man will do his will he shall 



PLANS OF SERMONS. 44T 

know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether 
I speak of myself." The divine authenticity of the 
word is known in obedience to it, "whether it be of 
God." 

V. 

Isaiah LV. i. — Ho every one that thirsteth^ come ye 
to the waters^ and he that hath no money j come ye, buy 
and eat ; yea, come, buy wine and milk, without money and 
without p7'ice. 

Int. Expo. Ho? Thirsteth? Waters of Life? 
Price ? 

There are three things in this passage which we pro- 
pose to notice in their order. 

1. Sinners are under a pressing and conscious nec- 
cessity, which nature is incompetent to supply, and for 
wiiich human desire can make no provision. 

II. God himself proposes to meet that necessity. 
The proposition is smcere and the provision ample, 
and every way worthy of the sinner's confidence. 

III. On his own responsibility the sinner does and 
must act, in view of that proposition. He does act, has 
all responsible power to act in the premises, and cer- 
tain and unfailing results press him to act. 

Ref. I. These divine negotiations are upon matters 
of infinite moment, involving eternal life or eternal 
death. They deserve your attention. 

2. The time of this negotiation will soon close. 
Sinner, the sweet voice of Jesus calling you to himself 
will soon cease. Hearken. 

3. To God's remonstrance, cease from human device,, 
hear God, and your soul shall live. 

VI. 

Luke XIX. 41. — And when he was come near he 
beheld the city, and wept over it. 

Int. Expo. He? Beheld? Wept? Over it? 



448 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

Doct. Compassion is a vital attribute of God, reveal- 
ed in Christ to the universe. 

1. God makes no arbitrary revelation of his perfec- 
tions ; he is known by his works. His response to the 
woes of a lost world, in the plan of redemption, was 
the practical revelation of the existence of that per- 
fection in God. 

II. The vital power and energy of that perfection 
stood revealed to the universe in that unparalleled 
sacrifice made of God, to rescue and save a guilty 
world. Angels learned God's compassion at the cross. 

III. The gushing tenderness of the God-man 
brought out in the life of Christ, his sympathies with 
the suffering and his tender woe for the lost, assures 
guilty, perishing men, of all ages, of its available ten- 
derness. 

Ref. I. Redemption is a matter of universal inter- 
est. To angels, as well as men, it is the mirror reflect- 
ing the glory of the God-head. It is the key to the 
fountain of all evangelical joy. 

2. The cross, the death scene, the amazing expend- 
iture of divine compassion, the radiating point of 
saving compassion, and the central point to which the 
redeemed are drawn, is appropriately celebrated in the 
Lord's Supper. 

3. Divine compassion, as it shines forth in all the 
gushing tenderness of the Son of God, is the Chris- 
tian's ensample, and the measure of the sinner's guilt, 
and woe and doom. 

VII. 

Luke"XXII. 62. — And Peter went out and wept 
bitterly. 

Int. Expo. Peter .^ Out? Wept.^ Bitterly? 

JDoct. When a consciousness of sin against Christ, 
and of the compassion of Christ, meet in the renewed 
heart, it results in evangelical repentance. 

I. He is thus conscious of the guilty character of all 



PLANS OF SERMONS. 449 

sin, as against divine compassion. All sin derives its 
most abhorrent type in view of the goodness of God. 

II. Having himself experienced Christ's compas- 
sion, his own sin against that compassion wears a most 
heart-breaking aggravation, "weeps bitterly." 

III. The Christian's sin takes him away from Christ, 
disrupts his peace and mars his union with Christ. 
His only way back is through evangelical repentance. 

Ref. I. We learn that sin in Christians is no less, 
but even more, odious than the sins of the uncon- 
verted. In sinning, we do it against ourselves, in vio- 
lence to the new nature within us. 

2. Would we hope to recover an erring, a sinning 
brother to holiness and penitence, our rebuke must be 
redolent of compassion. We must anticipate repent- 
ance with forgiving love, as Christ did. 

3. The subject exhibits this contrast : Christians 
sin, but repent and live; while God's enemies sin, 
excuse^ vindicate., and so spurn compassion and love, 
and perish. 

VIII. 

Canticles, V. 3. — I have put off my coat; how shall 
I put it on ? I have washed my feet., how shall I defile 
thei7i ? 

Int. Expo. A response to v. 2 } Difficult 7 Why ? 

Doct. A recovery from a backsliding state is difficult, 
not to be expected without a struggle, nor then without 
divine help. Notice 

I. The luxury of repose is to be abandoned. " I 
have put off my coat, and how shall I put it on 1 " 
Again : Carnal inactivity and repose must be aban- 
doned ; put on your coat. 

II. The cross must be resumed. I have washed my 
feet, how shall I defile them again .-^ The resumption 
of duties neglected tries the soul. Pride must be 
crucified. He fights hard. 

III. The hidings of God's face have to be encount- 



450 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

ered. The reproofs of God's truth induced v. 7, and 
in fellowship with Christ under the world's reproach, 
is restoration found, v. 9. 

Ref. I. If restoration costs so much, and is attended 
with so much pain, how earnestly we should labor to 
keep ourselves in the love of God. 

2. How kind Christ is, not to retire under every 
insult, until he has roused us. When he puts in the 
hand of truth, our hearts are moved for him. 
. 3. Backsliders can find him, and when they do, the 
church will share their joy, ch. iii., v. 4. The flesh 
slumbers, but the '7/^<2r/ waketh." The panting heart 
finds God, the waterbrook. 



IX. 

Luke IV. 4. — It is written that man shall not live by 
bread alone ^ but by every word of God. 

Int. Expo. Written? Live? Bread? Word? God? 

Doct. God's truth is indispensable to the life of 
man; to his full development and healthful vigor. 

1. God's truth is the light of man. What the light 
of the sun is to the herbage of the field, or to the ani- 
mal world, God's truth is to the spirit of man. It 
introduces man to the universe. 

II. It solves the doubt of death as to himself. His 
being, its origin and its destiny. It is indispensable to 
self-knowledge ; without it man wonders at his spirit- 
phenomenon, but retires to the care of an animal. 

III. It acquaints man with his counterpart — God, 
feeds him with heavenly manna. It surrounds him 
with a heavenly atmosphere, imparts to him the life- 
giving fellowship of God and the holy. 

Ref. I. A healthful state is a hungry state. It is 
ever indicated by an appetite for the word of God. 
The piety of the age is a sickly piety, indicated by a 
want of appetite for God's tiuth. 

2. The words of God are too precious food, or med- 



PLANS' OF SERMONS. 451 

icine, for the soul, to be treated lightly. ^'' Every 
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." God 
is in every word. Studiously to reject one, is to reject 
God. 

3. The bread of this world is needful and to be 
received with thanksgiving, but he who attempts to 
live on it alone, shall die. The ragings of a wordless 
world are the struggles of dying manhood. 



Proverbs XXVI. 2. — As the bird by wanderings or 
the swallow by flyings so the curse causeless cannot coine. 

Int. Expo. Bird-swallow ? So 1 Curse .'* Cause- 
less .'* Come ? 

Doct. There is a guilty cause in ourselves or others 
for all the ills that befall us in time and in eternity. 

I. They come. not from God, or if they do, they are 
compelled. For he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve 
the children of men. Chastisement is to be charged 
to the corrected, and punishment to guilt. 

II. The social and physical curses of earth can be 
traced, directly or indirectly, not to nature, but to the 
devices of moral depravity — such as drunkenness, 
debauchery, social outrage, and treason, and all the 
devices of depravity. 

1. Drunkenness is unnatural. Man left to his 
instincts would never be a drunkard. Appetite must 
for vicious ends be schooled into so terrible a vice. 
Dram-shops are licensed factories of rowdies and 
villains. 

2. Social outrage, licentiousness, can only abound in 
a school of vice. Nature is timid and modest, and 
only overcome by the demoralizing influence of drunk- 
enness and vicious associations. 

3. Treason to law, or country, has its cause in the 
vicious school of party politics, or in some great social 
wTong, which just government and righteous laws 
would suppress. Mobs, the former; slavery, the latter. 

Ref. To the curse, in time or in eternity, we are 



452 NATHANIEL COLVER. 

fatally liable, just as we are wedded to the cause; 
remove the cause and the curse will not come. Refor- 
mation only can avoid the curse here j and evangelical 
faith in Christ, the eternal curse of sin in eternity. 

XI. 

Romans VIII. 20. — For the creature was made sub- 
ject to vanity^ not willingly^ but by reason of him who hath 
subjected the same in hope. 

Int. Expo. Creature .'' Vanity ? Willingly ? Of 
him.? Hope.-* 

. Doct. Temporal death is a divine expedient, de- 
manded by reason of sin, and provided in mercy for 
man's good. 

1. It stays the judgment and affords a day of grace 
to lost man. It keeps the prisoner on the hostage 
against the day of judgment. The court is put off till 
the generations have their day. 

11. It anticipates the judgment in the practical 
release of the righteous, and in the finished record of 
the impenitent, against the solemn review and decisions 
of that day. 

3. It is a constant warning to man; a prudential 
modification of earthly good, counteracting its ensnar- 
ing charms ; and, in mercy, it is the hand of God 
cutting short the cares of sin. 

Ref. I. Death itself is not to be deplored, but that 
which called for so terrible an expedient. Its indis- 
pensable necessity is found in sin. O, sin, sin! because 
of thee^ the whole creation groaneth. 

2. Gloomy as death is, it has more than an antidote 
in Christ ; both in the spirit's release and in death's 
abolition, in the resurrection of the dead. To it the 
Christian is subjected^ or rather death itself is subjected 
to hope. 

3. To the impenitent, death is virtual damnation. 
It reveals character; it seals character; it ends 
reprieve, takes the forfeiture of all good at the hand of 
he sinner, and seals his doom. 



PLANS OF SERMONS. 453 



XIL 



Nehemiah IV. 6. — So built we the wall ; and all 
the wall was joined together unto the half thereof : for 
the people had a mind to work. 

Int. Expo. So? Built? All the wall? People? 
Mind ? Work ? 

Doct When the people have a mind to work for 
God, they are sure to succeed with their work. 
Because : 

1. When to the accomplishment of the work, all 
contribute, though the contribution of each may be 
small, yet the aggregate will be surprisingly great; 
sufficient to secure the result. 

II. When the people have a mind to work, they will 
ever find their resources greatly to surpass ^heir own 
estimate. Necessity felt is the great developer of 
supply, whether in nature, science, or grace. 

III. When the people have a mind to work fbr God, 
God has a mind to work with his people. The sym- 
pathy, and the almightiness of God, insures success. 
God also bearing them witness both with signs and 
wonders, etc. 

Ref. I. The subject teaches us what will insure 
success in the new enterprise, which in the providence 
of God is thrown upon us, viz : an earnest mind to 
work/<?r God^ in it. 

1. It is God's work., se let it be regarded by us. 

2. It is a great work — comparatively great. 

3. It is a needful work; the cause of truth 
demands it. 

4. Our higher work of winning souls to Christ 
demands it. 

2. I remark, the relation we sustain to others, who 
will be associated with us in this work, demands a 
united and earnest mind to work, on our part. I have 
no doubt they will have a mind to work ; we must not 
allow them to surpass us in this holy work. Mutual 
strife will knit hearts for the new union, and make it 
prolific of future usefulness and comfort. 



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